COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Government troops captured a Tamil Tiger rebel-held town in war-ravaged northern Sri Lanka while infantry clashes across the region killed 40 rebels and three soldiers, the military said on Saturday.In the latest fighting, army troops took control of Andankulam town in Mannar district after a battle that killed 28 rebels and one soldier Friday, said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara. The town's capture came a day after the troops seized a key supply base in Vavuniya district that had been used to replenish the Tamil Tigers' front-line troops. Nanayakkara said the capture of the base and town were strategically important for government troops to gain control of rebels' northern strongholds.
Other battles on Friday killed 12 rebels and one soldier in the Welioya region, while in the northern Jaffna peninsula a soldier died in a roadside bomb blast blamed on rebels, Nanayakkara said.