"This struggle was not meant to have an end story of surrender, that will never ever happen. -Tamils For Justice:

(Interview on live TV - Al Jazeera world news 9 PM, LA Time Friday, 2 January:

Sri Lanka bombs Tamil Tiger bases:

But Donald Gnanakone, founder of the Tamils for Justice, said that the loss, though symbolic, does not spell the end for the Tigers.

"They will never surrender," the Los Angeles-based activist told Al Jazeera. "This struggle was not meant to have an end story of surrender, that will never ever happen. This is like asking the Palestinians to surrender the Gaza Strip and other areas to Israel."

Separatist LTTE fighters have been battling
government forces since 1983 [AFP/LTTE]

Sri Lankan attack helicopters have bombed Tamil Tiger positions in the north of the island, a day after ground forces seized Kilinochchi, the separatists' headquarters.
The military says it is following up the seizure by targeting the port town of Mullaitivu and other rebel strongholds in the north.

It aims to push further into the separatist-held areas with the hope of bringing an end to a separatist war that has raged for 25 years.

A military source asking not to be named said on Saturday: "MI-24 helicopters attacked rebel positions west of Mullaitivu in support of ground troops."
Also on Saturday, at least three people were injured in an explosion in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, the second bombing there in two days.
"There has been an explosion in the Pettah area," a police official who asked not to be named told Reuters news agency. "A few vehicles are aflame, we have teams investigating," he said.

Fall of Kilinochchi
There has been no comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the fall of Kilinochchi, considered the capital of the rebels fighting for a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils.

But Donald Gnanakone, founder of the Tamils for Justice, said that the loss, though symbolic, does not spell the end for the Tigers.
"They will never surrender," the Los Angeles-based activist told Al Jazeera. "This struggle was not meant to have an end story of surrender, that will never ever happen. This is like asking the Palestinians to surrender the Gaza Strip and other areas to Israel."

Government troops entered the Tamil Tiger's de facto capital on Friday [AFP]
Still, troops fighting their way into Kilinochchi on Friday was one of the biggest blows for the separatists in years.

Details of casualties from the fighting have not yet emerged and a pro-separatist website, Tamilnet.com, said the Tigers had moved their headquarters further northeast before the town fell.

"The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has entered a virtual ghost town," the website said. "The Tigers, who had put up heavy resistance so far, had kept their casualties as low as possible in the defensive fighting."

Brigadier Udaya Nanyakkara, a Sri Lankan military spokesman, said troops were carrying out search and recovery operations in Kilinochchi town on Saturday.

Security, meanwhile, has been tightened across the island following a suicide bombing that killed three air force personnel in Colombo shortly after Mahinda Rajapaksa, the country’s president, announced the fall of the de facto rebel capital on Friday.

The LTTE started fighting the government in 1983. It says it is battling for the rights of minority Tamils in the face of mistreatment by successive governments led by the Sinhalese majority since Sri Lanka won independence from Britain in 1948.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies