Sri Lanka's government troops on the forward march in the northeastern battle zone have captured another rebels' earth bunds, a military officer said on Sunday.

"The 53rd division has been able to capture the bund north of the Nanthikandal lagoon, south of the A35 road", Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, said.

The 500 meter long and 10 feet wide bund was captured Sunday morning. The Tamil Tigers had suffered extensive damage in the fighting.

Nanayakara said the troops are continuing operations in order to free Tamil civilians from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) clutches.

The Army's 53rd, 55th, 58th divisions and Task Force 8 have positioned in the no fire zone where the rebels are mingling with civilians and attacking troops.

Meanwhile the Police Special Task Force said that search operations for LTTE members in the eastern province's Kanjilkudujiaru jungles were continuing after they gunned down four senior rebels on Saturday.

The four rebel seniors have been carrying out LTTE activities in the eastern province's Batticaloa district.

The LTTE rebels lost control of the eastern province in mid 2007.

The government troops are now poised to wipe off the LTTE challenge with their imminent capture of the no fire zone in northeastern Mullaithivu district's Puttumatalan area.

More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict since the mid 1980s.

(Xinhua News Agency May 4, 2009)