Lanka takes full control of Elephant Pass

Sri Lankan troops fighting Tamil rebels captured Elephant Pass yesterday, a highly strategic causeway linking the Jaffna peninsula with the mainland, the president said.
The Tamil Tigers had held the pass since April 2000, and its loss is another huge blow to the rebels after the fall of their political capital Kilinochchi last week.
"Our forces have recorded another historic victory today," President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a televised address to the nation.
"That is the complete dislodging of the Tigers from Elephant Pass and the security forces establishing their authority there," he said.
The military now controls a 142-kilometre (88-mile) stretch of the vital A-9 highway and can supply troops and nearly half a million civilians in Jaffna, the president said.
Elephant Pass fell to government soldiers advancing northwards from Kilinochchi and another column that moved south from earlier army defences, military officials said.
"They have established full control over Elephant Pass after entering the south of the area four days ago," an official said.
There was no comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Residents in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo took to the streets and set off firecrackers as radio stations announced the capture of the pass.
Separately Friday, four civilians and three security personnel were killed in the adjoining district of Trincomalee when a powerful roadside bomb struck their bus in an ambush by suspected Tiger rebels.