Sri Lanka staged local elections under tight security yesterday as troops pushed deeper into Tamil Tiger territory, closing in on the rebel capital in the war-ravaged north, officials said.
Two out of the country's nine provinces cast ballots to elect new top local officials, without any incidents of violence reported, police said.
"We deployed about 25,000 men to guard polling booths and the reports so far suggest that the voting went off without any major incident," a police official said.
The provinces which went to the polls -- North Central and Sabaragamuwa -- are not hit by fighting between troops and Tiger rebels, but the government had turned the vote into an unofficial referendum on its military strategy.
Election officials put turnout at about 60 to 65 percent of the 2.16 million eligible voters.
On Friday, the defence ministry announced troops had captured two strategic towns from the Tigers as they closed within just 12 kilometres (7.5 miles) of the rebels' political capital of Kilinochchi in the north.
The ministry said Saturday a total of 28 rebels and two soldiers were killed in clashes since Friday across the island's north, where the military is keeping up pressure on the guerrillas along at least four fronts.
Tens of thousands have died on both sides since the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) began fighting in 1972 for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the majority Sinhalese island.
There was no immediate comment from the Tigers about the military push and the casualties claimed by the security forces, but the guerrillas earlier this week tacitly admitted the military was advancing into their areas.
The few international aid agencies operating inside rebel-held territory reported that over 112,000 people had been driven out of their homes as a result of fighting over the past two months.
President Mahinda Rajapakse announced Tuesday that troops were on a final push to dismantle the LTTE's de-facto state in the north after the military ejected the rebels from the east in July 2007.