Chennai, Nov 6 : Relief material comprising clothes, food and life saving drugs is ready to leave from Chennai for civilian population in conflict-hit northern Sri Lanka.

Nearly 80,000 relief packets containing necessary clothes and food material are ready to be transported to Sri Lanka.

Tamil Nadu government had decided to provide relief material to the island country, where Indian origin Tamil population is predominant.

Colombo - Government troops captured a strategic village held by Tamil separatist rebels as government forces continued their offensive to retake all of northern Sri Lanka, a military spokesman said Thursday.

The capture of the village in Akkarayankulam, 360 kilometres north of Colombo, came after nearly three months of fighting in the area.

The military released pictures of the captured area and said it was continuing its operations there.

Colombo - Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Wednesday congratulated US president-elect Barack Obama on his election victory and expressed confidence that Obama would support Sri Lankan counter-terrorism efforts.

"We are confident of your support for our efforts to forge a sustainable peace in Sri Lanka through the pursuit of democracy and countering terrorism", Bogollagama said.

Chennai, Nov 5 : Employees of southern film industry observed hunger strike on Wednesday to show solidarity with the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The ten-hour hunger strike has been called by the ''Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI), in which hundreds of employees participated to lend their voice against the atrocities carried out on Tamilians in Sri Lanka.

As much as 93 people were taken into custody by Sri Lankan police for their alleged links with Tamil Tiger rebels. They were arrested in the North-West part of the island nation on Saturday, according to official sources.

The arrests came during an operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Kalpitiya village in Puttalam district, some 165 km from Colombo.

They were arrested during an operation against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Kalpitiya village in Puttalam district, some 165 km from Colombo.