Analysts said the capture of Kilinochchi could make the capital and far south more vulnerable.

"Particularly after the humiliating defeat at Kilinochchi they will try to use their striking capability outside the theatre of conflict in a bigger way," said Iqbal Athas, an analyst with Jane's Defence.

Kilinochchi, in the Northern Province, has long been the centre of the Tamil fight for an independent homeland, which has seen more than 70,000 people killed in a bitter civil war since 1983.

Pro-rebel website www.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."

FLAGS AND FIRECRACKERS

The fall of the rebels' de facto capital was greeted with the bursting of firecrackers in Colombo. Others waved the national flag as they drove through the streets of the capital.

"The capture indicates very clearly that the LTTE's attempt to build up a quasi-state has now collapsed," Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, a political analyst, said.

Sri Lanka's military has been closing in on Kilinochchi since September. Over the past month, it has been assaulting Tiger defences encircling the town and both sides have claimed to have inflicted ever higher death tolls on the other.

Sources from Rajapaksa's office earlier said that troops had entered Kilinochchi from two locations.

... contd.