July 17, 2008	Thursday	Rajab 13, 1429

COLOMBO: An LTTE Naval base in the rebel-controlled north was captured on Wednesday as troops overran a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam administered town, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nannayakkara said amidst reports of heavy fighting which defence ministry officials said has killed around 60 rebels.

The overrunning of the rebel held Vidattaltivu town took place on Wednesday morning, a Defence Ministry statement said.

Sources in northern Mannar said heavy air raids and artillery attacks marked the heaviest fighting in recent weeks as the military moves in to fully capture the rebel-controlled regions in the district.

The acceleration in the fighting takes place as President Mahinda Rajapakse insisted that the Tiger separatists should be crushed militarily.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday reiterated that it was necessary to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam describing the rebel group as an outfit which had continued its terror despite coming forward for peace talks.

His sentiments were expressed during a meeting with Lord Malloch-Brown, British Foreign Office Minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations who called on President Rajapakse at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.

“There were now signs that the people were backing the changes that the government was initiating, and this was best seen in the complete defeat suffered by those who pushed for a general strike last week,” the President was quoted by an official statement issued by the Presidential Secretariat as saying, referring to a general strike initiated by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi affiliated trade unions last Thursday.

Meanwhile, with the skyrocketing cost of living mainly blamed on the heavy war expenditure, analysts say pressure is increasing on the government to completely annihilate the Tiger rebels or carry out negotiations for a political solution.

“The government will have to deliver and see that the statements by the military top brass that the war can be won by the end of the year are realised,” one observer noted.