Sri Lanka's government says it has established a land link to Jaffna, the heartland of the country's ethnic minority Tamils, by seizing a key rebel stronghold on the west coast. Lakshman Hulugalle, the chief of the government security information center, says soldiers seized control of Pooneryn village on Saturday. He says the military will be able to access the previously isolated, government-controlled Jaffna peninsula by land now they have Pooneryn. Jaffna has been accessible only by air since 2006 when the government closed another major road citing security reasons. That road cut through rebel territory, according to a report of Associated Press.
