Sri Lanka Says It Enters Rebel Capital

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Government forces captured the Tamil Tigers' de facto capital in northern Sri Lanka on Friday, dealing a devastating blow to the rebels' quarter-century fight for an independent state, the president said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced the capture of Kilinochchi in a nationally televised speech, and called on the rebels to give up their fight.

''Our brave and heroic troops have fully capture Kilinochchi, which was considered the main bastion of the LTTE,'' he said, referring to the rebels by their formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. ''For the last time, I call upon the LTTE to lay down their arms and surrender.''

Across the capital of Colombo, people lit firecrackers in celebration and waved Sri Lankan flags.

Strategically, Kilinochchi was not a particularly important target in Sri Lanka's offensive against the rebels. But it held great symbolic value as the center of the Tamil Tigers' de facto state and its capture by government forces for the first time in a decade was sure to badly damage the rebels' morale.

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