Sri Lanka troops break through rebel bunker line

21/11/2008 14:15:51

Sri Lanka's government says its troops have smashed through a key Tamil Tiger defence line in the far north of the island.

The defence ministry says government troops took a near five-kilometre long fortified bunker line from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the Jaffna peninsula after five days of fierce fighting.

Collapse of the defences is expected to add to the pressure the rebels have been facing on other fronts, including around their political capital of Kilinochchi.

Sri Lankan authorities have restricted access to the embattled areas for journalists as well as for most aid workers, meaning that claims by either side in the decades-old conflict are difficult to independently verify.

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