A main highway in Sri Lanka's eastern province has been brought under government control from Tamil rebels after 11 years, said the military Sunday.

Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said the A15 highway linking the eastern port town of Trincomalee and Batticaloa has been cleared by the troops with the exit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels from the eastern province's Vakarai area.

Vakarai was captured by the troops on Friday - their main stronghold in the province after the fall of Sampur, another key area in the province that remained under Tiger control prior to September 2006.

Samarasinghe said that the troops having consolidated in the area are now looking to settle some 30,000 civilians displaced by months of conflicts between the Army and the Tigers.

The military has vowed to flush the rebels out of the province. The LTTE presence in the province is limited to the thickets of Thoppigala in the Batticaloa district, according to the military.

President Mahinda Rajapakse Sunday congratulated the troops in annexing Vakarai from the rebel control, saying it was a major victory in his government's battle against terrorism. He accused the rebels of taking civilians as a shield to attack the troops.

The military clashes have undermined the Norwegian facilitated process of negotiations. The government and the rebels met for face-to-face talks twice last year. The two rounds ended inconclusively, leading to more violence.

Over 67,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the mid 1980s so far.

Source: Xinhua