Insurgents in Sri Lanka losing

CNN:

Sri Lankan soldiers have seized a key rebel stronghold after launching a surprise attack early Sunday morning, the head of Sri Lanka's army announced.

Troops crossed a lagoon and entered the town of Mullaittivu before encountering heavy resistance from Tamil fighters, according to the government-run news agency.

"Our troops fought their way through a 40 km (25 mile) thick jungle track," Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said in a televised address on Sunday.

"This is the long awaited victory and I am happy to say that our heroic forces today captured the Mullaittivu town after 12 years," the Sri Lanka Army chief said.

There is no confirmation from the rebels that the strategic garrison has been overtaken.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) -- commonly known as the Tamil Tigers -- have fought for an independent homeland for the country's ethnic Tamil minority since 1983. The civil war has left more than 70,000 people dead.

The rebels gained control over Mullaittivu in 1996 and established a military garrison there, according to the government.

In recent days, the military has made significant progress in its campaign to recapture rebel strongholds.

Earlier this month, troops regained control of the northern town of Elephant Pass, the point at which mainland Sri Lanka links to the northern Jaffna peninsula.

It had been in rebel hands for more than nine years.

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The Tamil Tigers are the third insurgent group to lose in the last 23 months. Al Qaeda lost in Iraq and FARC has lost in Columbia, and the Tigers have lost in Sri Lanka. By lost, I mean they are no longer viable insurgencies that stand a chance of taking control.

For a long time the left in this country have acted like the insurgents always win and we should avoid protracted warfar with them, but historically insurgents lose 90 percent of the wars they fight usually on average it takes 11 years to defeat them.

In Sri Lanka it has taken about 25 years and in Colombia it has taken about 40 years, but in Iraq it took about six or seven years. It may take longer in Afghansitan, because the terrain favors and insurgency, and there is a sanctuary across the border in Paksitan. But it takes someone ignorant of history to say that insurgents cannot be defeated.