Colombo – Government troops captured a strategically important coastal town Wednesday in north-western Sri Lanka, the Defence Ministry said as the military aims to take back Tamil rebel-held areas in the north by the end of the year. 

Vidattaltivu town - used by the separatist rebels as a sea base for their naval units, better known as the Sea Tigers as well as a logistical hub to smuggle contraband - is located 320 kilometres north of Colombo. 

For the past 10 months, government troops in Sinhalese-majority Sri Lanka have been fighting in the coastal district of Mannar, which includes Vidattaltivu, and have been able to push back the rebels belonging to the Tamil minority group. 

Security forces have claimed that rebels are now confined to two main districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu in the north although fighting is being reported immediately outside the two districts. 

Government troops relaunched military operations against the Tamil rebels in mid-2006, and since then, more than 9,000 rebels and 1,700 soldiers have been killed, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said. 

Troops a year ago recaptured rebel-held areas in eastern Sri Lanka, but the stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has been in the north. (dpa)