Sri Lanka Says Troops Captured Rebel Center -- The New York TimesNEW DELHI — Sri Lanka on Friday announced the capture of the de facto rebel capital, dealing at least a serious symbolic blow to the ethnic Tamil separatists’ ambition to create a homeland of their own. Within hours, in an apparent reprisal, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle attacked the Sri Lankan Air Force headquarters in Colombo, killing two.
The rebel capital, Kilinochchi, lies more than 185 miles north of Colombo and is not a particularly strategic target; the coast and narrow pathways to the Jaffna Peninsula to the north are more valuable. But Kilinochchi has tremendous resonance as a headquarters town where for a decade nothing happened outside the gaze of the rebels, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or L.T.T.E.
The group collected taxes from Kilinochchi and ran a parallel system of police and courts. Monuments of dead rebels dotted the town. Journalists were led on tours and put up in guesthouses built and run by the organization.
Read more ....
More News On The Sri Lanka War
Sri Lankan troops advance on rebels' military HQ -- Yahoo News/AFP
Sri Lankan army captures Tamil Tigers' capital, Kilinochchi -- Times Online
Colombo pushes into Tiger areas -- BBC
Sri Lankan Army Captures Key Tamil Tiger Stronghold -- Voice Of America
Sri Lanka Captures Rebels' Capital -- Washington Post
Sri Lanka bombs Tamil Tiger bases -- Al Jazeera
Sri Lanka bombs rebels after seizing their HQ -- Yahoo News/AP
Sri Lanka Bombs Rebels in North -- Voice Of America
Second bomb blast in 24 hours hits Colombo -- CNN
Background on 25-year conflict in Sri Lanka -- Yahoo News/AP
Timeline of the violence in Sri Lanka -- Yahoo News/AP