By DPA
Colombo : Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa Wednesday hailed the country's security forces for recapturing the last stronghold of Tamil rebels in the eastern part of the country after a three-month military offensive.
Government troops Wednesday captured the Thoppigala area, 320 km east of the capital, but were continuing clearing operations to fully secure the area.
Rajapaksa said he was paying tribute to the armed forces, the police and the elite commando unit known as the Special Task Force who took part in the "humanitarian exercise to free the people of the east from the clutches of terrorism".
At least 18 soldiers and 211 rebels were killed in the campaign to recapture Thoppigala.
With the loss of their eastern base the rebels are now mainly confined to northern regions and speculation was high that security forces may now concentrate on that part of the country.
Tamil rebel spokesman Rasiaha Illanthiriyan told journalists in the north that the militants were using guerrilla-type attacks and therefore considered that it was not necessary to hold on to the east.
However, he acknowledged that government troops have been able to regain control of the eastern region.
Fighting has escalated during the past 19 months in Sri Lanka, with more than 5,000 killed during the period while a Norwegian-backed ceasefire has gone unimplemented and the peace process is at a standstill.