COLOMBO, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's government troops on Monday recaptured the northern town of Kokavil, which has been under the control of Tamil Tiger rebels for 18 years, said the military.

    Officials from the Ministry of Defence said the troops launched an offensive early Sunday morning extending their forward boundaries and captured the town on Monday.

    This is the first time after 18 years the troops gained full control over the town, which is about 22 km south of Kilinochchi, the administrative center of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

    Kokavil is famous in Sri Lanka because a fierce battle occurred there 18 years ago. In 1990, Lieutenant Saliya Upul Aladeniya and a small group of soldiers defended an Army camp for one month without any reinforcement, or casualty evacuation before the LTTE overran it in July.

    Meanwhile, Air Force Spokesman Janaka Nanayakkara said the Air Force launched successive air raids at three identified LTTE resistance positions in the Kilinochchi district on Monday to support the advancing troops.

    The troops and the LTTE are currently engaged in fierce battles in the north, after the government claimed in July 2007 that the entire Eastern Province had been free of the rebels.

    The Sri Lankan government says the rebels' campaign for a separate state has neared its end with government troops dislocating rebels from their key strongholds in the north.

    Claiming discrimination at the hands of Sinhalese-dominated governments, the LTTE has been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east since the mid-1980s, resulting in the killing of more than 70,000 people.