Sri Lankan president hails victory as army seizes Tamil Tiger capital
[ The Guardian ]
The Sri Lankan army today seized control of Kilinochchi, the low-lying northern town in which separatist Tamil Tiger rebels had put together the institutions of their long sought-after independent state. The major symbolic victory for the government could also prove a decisive turning point in the country’s 25-year civil war. “This was an unparalleled victory,” the president, Mahinda Rajapakse, said in a televised speech from his office.