Rebels evicted from northwestern town: SL
Colombo,
Sept
2:
Sri
Lanka's
military
has
taken
the
Silavathura
area
in
the
northwestern
district
of
Mannar,
President
Mahinda
Rajapaksa
said
today,
a
day
after
the
military
launched
a
new
offensive
to
drive
out
Tamil
Tiger
rebels.
The offensive comes days after Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said the country had no plans for a major operation on rebel-held territory in the country's north.
The clashes in Mannar are the latest in a spate of land and sea clashes, ambushes and air raids between the armed forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.
An estimated 5,000 people have died since last year in renewed fighting after a peace process collapsed. The civil war erupted in 1983 about 70,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Reuters
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