COLOMBO, Dec 26: Sri Lankan forces claimed making a significant gain in the fight against Tamil Tigers on Friday by capturing a town near their north-eastern base of Mullaitivu.

The army, aided by air force jets and MI-24 helicopter gunships, overcame heavy resistance by the entrenched units of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and successfully negotiated the lengthy defence lines built by the LTTE to enter Mulliawalai, the defence ministry said.

The LTTE’s casualties in the operations were ‘soaring’, it added.

Military officials further said that on Thursday, troops of the Sri Lanka Light Infantry seized a key communications tower north of Mulliawalai.

Meanwhile, the guerilla group’s former eastern commander, Karuna Amman, told the media that the gains made by the Sri Lankan forces in the Mullaitivu sector posed a serious threat to the LTTE because the elusive rebel chief, Vellupillai Prabhakaran, was likely to be found somewhere in the region.