After months of fighting with the Tamil Tiger rebels and losing more than 40 soldiers, Sri Lanka troops recaptured the eastern town of Vakarai on Friday forcing the rebels to flee the area, said the military.

The Media Center for the National Security (MCNS) said that since the start of this operation in November, about 45 government soldiers were killed in action and 180 wounded.

Meanwhile, at least 331 LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)cadres were killed and a large number of rebels were injured.

Vakarai, 230 km northeast of here, has been the scene of fierce long range artillery and mortar exchanges between the two sides over the last few weeks.

The MCNS said the Army is consolidating their positions in the town and the rebels have fled with a large number of casualties.

"The civilians, who were so far trapped in the town, are currently been helped out of their hiding places and taken to refugee camps until the town is restored back to resume normal civil life," said the MCNS in a statement.

The military said that the rebels are currently firing mortar shells from north of Vakarai and the Army is repelling these attacks.

The LTTE said on Friday that it "decided to pull back from its Pannichchankerni position which is on the access route to Vakarai."

According to the military, Vakarai is a significantly strategic coastal strip for the sea-tiger bases.

"By strengthening in this area, the terrorists would be free to run their smuggling of arms and narcotics into the country as well as into the neighboring East Asian countries," said the statement.

Since 1996, Vakarai had various problems from the LTTE. The government troops launched a military operation in early November of 2006.

All civilians, irrespective of age or physical ability, were forced into labor and combat training under the occupation of the LTTE, said the military.
 
The LTTE forcibly captured the Vakarai hospital to treat their cadres wounded in the confrontation on Wednesday and the hospital officials were not allowed to treat any civilians.

Some 15,000 people in Vakarai were thought to be internally displaced by regular eruption of clashes between the two sides.

The clashes in the east is the continuation of violence which has killed over 3,800 people since the beginning of December 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2007)