COLOMBO, Jan 14: Sri Lankan troops have established total control over the northern peninsula of Jaffna after flushing out the last remaining pockets of rebel resistance, according to defence officials.

Security forces fought their way into and began dominating the Chundikkulam bird sanctuary area, where the guerrillas had several Sea Tiger bases, a defence official said on Wednesday.

There was no comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but their hold on the peninsula began crumbling last week after troops took Elephant Pass, the causeway linking Jaffna with the Sri Lankan mainland.

“A senior LTTE Sea Tiger leader identified as ‘Lt-Col Thiru’ was killed along with several others,” the ministry said referring to clashes in the area on Tuesday.

The troops established full control over Jaffna as authorities on Wednesday buried 41 bodies of suspected Tiger rebels killed by security forces in the island’s northern mainland.

Military officials said about 1,700 Tamil civilians had sought shelter with government forces after escaping from the remaining rebel-held areas of the island’s north-east.

“In the past two weeks a total of 1,707 civilians have crossed into government-held areas in the north,” a military official said, adding that the authorities were arranging emergency relief for them.

Hospital officials in the town of Vavuniya, 260km north of here, said ongoing fighting had made it difficult to transfer the bodies of 41 suspected Tiger rebels back to the LTTE through the Red Cross.

“The Tigers have not specified a place where the Red Cross can hand over the bodies to them,” a hospital official said. “Because we have no storage facilities, we have arranged for the burials after forensic examinations.” Both the military and the Tigers had earlier used the International Committee of the Red Cross to swap their war dead.

The burials came as warplanes bombed and destroyed two LTTE artillery guns, the defence ministry said. It was not clear how many artillery pieces the Tigers still had.

The air force had stepped up strikes against the remaining LTTE strong points in the island’s north on Tuesday with at least 10 bombing sorties, a ministry spokesman said.

Fighting was also reported around guerrilla-controlled Mullaittivu district.

The LTTE has not commented on the latest fighting, but has admitted losing ground in recent weeks — including the town of Kilinochchi, which they used as their political base for nearly a decade.—AFP