World IN BRIEF : SRI LANKA : 62 Rebels Killed in Separatist Violence

Government troops have regained control of a port in northern Sri Lanka after a month of heavy fighting, including recent clashes that left 62 rebels dead, military officials said. Rebel fighters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had controlled the port town of Trincomalee, 190 miles northeast of Colombo, and other vital areas in northern and eastern provinces. In a related development, the government dissolved the provincial councils in the north and east of the country and announced that it will hold elections at an unspecified date to fill seats abandoned by members of the Indian-backed Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front, who fled the country when Indian peacekeeping troops withdrew in March.