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| Sri Lanka troops 'seize rebel HQ' | Sri Lanka troops 'seize rebel HQ' |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Sri Lanka's military has seized control of the Tamil Tiger rebels' de facto capital of Kilinochchi, President Mahinda Rajapakse has announced. | Sri Lanka's military has seized control of the Tamil Tiger rebels' de facto capital of Kilinochchi, President Mahinda Rajapakse has announced. |
| He described the taking of the northern town - which has followed months of fighting - as an "unparalleled victory" for government forces. | He described the taking of the northern town - which has followed months of fighting - as an "unparalleled victory" for government forces. |
| There has been no immediate comment from the Tamil Tigers. | There has been no immediate comment from the Tamil Tigers. |
| The BBC's correspondent in Sri Lanka says the loss of Kilinochchi will be a heavy blow to the rebel group. | The BBC's correspondent in Sri Lanka says the loss of Kilinochchi will be a heavy blow to the rebel group. |
| The town is of huge symbolic importance to the Tigers, who have assembled the trappings of a separate state they want for the ethnic Tamil minority, he says. | The town is of huge symbolic importance to the Tigers, who have assembled the trappings of a separate state they want for the ethnic Tamil minority, he says. |
| "We should pay the gratitude of the whole nation to those heroic soldiers who achieved that victory," Mr Rajapaksa said in a nationally televised address. | |
| He urged the rebel fighters to lay down their arms. | |
| The Sri Lankan army has for months been advancing towards Kilinochchi, which has been in the hands of rebels for the last decade. | |
| Both sides have recently claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on each other in the north of the island. | |
| But there have been no independent reports from the frontline and it is impossible to verify either account of casualties. |