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Message: <blockquote data-quote="lkdood" data-source="post: 3878478" data-attributes="member: 92282">Sri Lankan forces have captured the Tamil Tigers' last major stronghold in the country's north, the army hs announced, a victory that leves the remaining rebel fighters confined to the tiny slice of jungle they still control.Sri Lankans across the capital, Colombo, exploded in celebration, honking their horns and lighting fireworks at the news, as they have done several times in the past month as the military fought its way into what was once the rebels' de facto state.While the major conventional battles appeared to be over, analysts said the army had a hard fight ahead of it to finish off the rebels, who are reportedly holed up in the nearby jungles among hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced by the fighting.The capture of Mullaittivu came just three weeks after the army drove the rebels from their administrative capital of Kilinochchi and forced them to retreat from most of the de facto state they controlled across a wide swath of northern Sri Lanka."The Sri Lankan army captured the Mullaittivu bastion completely today," Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka, the army chief, said in a speech broadcast on every major television channel.Lt Gen Fonseka said the 25-year-old civil war was 95% over and he appealed for new recruits to join the army and help complete the job.Rebel officials could not be reached for comment because communications to the northern war zone have been cut. However, they have in the past expressed a willingness to return to guerrilla warfare if necessary.It is impossible to verify the military's accounts because independent journalists are barred from the area."There is still a lot of work to be done," Sri Lanka's former army commander General Jerry de Silva said. "It is likely they (the rebels) will resort to guerrilla tactics, both jungle and urban," he said, adding that the jungle canopy above much of the remaining rebel territory could mean that troops are likely to get little air support.Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella described Mullaittivu as the rebels' last bastion and main operations centre. The rebels took control of the town in 1996 when they overran a military camp there and killed nearly 1,000 soldiers. <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5gcDZp04IkGUXVwVtgFlSJ_PZZBUA" target="_blank">ukpa</a></blockquote>

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