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Colombo: Sri Lankan military continued its assault on Tamil Tiger separatists, seizing a rebel-held town and destroying boats, the military said on Thursday.
Troops moved in on the Tigers from the north and south of the strategic Jaffna peninsula, pounding the rebels from both directions since Tuesday.
"Troops captured Pallai today, going forward from yesterday's positions, and are getting closer to Elephant Pass," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said on Thursday. "There are small pockets of fighting and the terrorists are withdrawing."
Pallai is a village on the northern front being attacked by two divisions, while Elephant Pass is a strategic former army base to the south that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) captured in 2000 in a stinging defeat for the army.
No casualties have been reported so far, Nanayakkara said.
Early on Thursday, military airstrikes blew up two large boats in the Chundikulam lagoon to the east of Elephant Pass.
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