Sri Lankan troops have driven Tamil Tiger fighters from their last stronghold in the island's east, the military said yesterday, but the rebels vowed to carry on with a guerrilla-style war.

The capture of a jungle area called Thoppigala in the eastern district of Batticaloa comes after the military captured vast swathes of terrain from the Tigers in the east this year.

But while the military has had the upper hand in recent months, the Tigers' military machine is still intact in the north where they run a de facto state, and analysts see no clear winner on the horizon.

Analysts fear the conflict that has killed nearly 70,000 people since 1983 could run for years.

"We have reached Thoppigala and captured Thoppigala and now there are no LTTE (Tiger) holdings," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. "In and around Thoppigala there are small pockets and camps which we are clearing. West of Thoppiala we have to clear but the Thoppigala is captured."

Thoppigala has been in Tiger hands since the mid-1990s.

The military says it has killed nearly 450 rebel fighters in the Thoppigala area since February and that around 20 of its men have been killed. The Tigers say 60 of their guerrillas have been killed and believe they have killed three or four times that number of troops.

Analysts say both sides tend to exaggerate enemy losses and play down their own.

The Tigers control a large section of the island's far north and are fighting for an independent state in the north and east.

The government has vowed to continue with its drive to destroy all Tiger military assets, and analysts say the focus of fighting is now shifting to the far north.

(China Daily via agencies July 12, 2007)