Sri Lankan troops cleared mines and searched for boobytraps in newly captured Tamil Tiger terrain in the island's northeast today.
Capturing the rebel-held settlement of Sampur brought a lull in the worst fighting since a 2002 ceasefire.
The army captured the southern edge of strategic Trincomalee harbour yesterday after days of artillery battles. It was the first major capture of enemy territory by either side since the truce.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had been able to shell Trincomalee's major naval base and disrupt a maritime supply route to the besieged army-held Jaffna peninsula to the north from their positions in Sampur.
The latest episode in Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war began with air strikes on rebel territory in late July amid a dispute over a blocked water supply. The fighting then spread to Jaffna.
A week ago, the army began an offensive to clear the rebels from Sampur. The military said 15 troops were killed and more than 90 were injured during the offensive. It estimates dozens of Tigers were killed.
The government and the rebels say they continue to stand by the terms of the 2002 truce, which still technically holds. But they blame each other for trying to force a full-scale return to a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.
Analysts fear the Tigers could strike elsewhere, possibly in the capital Colombo, the site of two bombings, assassinations and a string of abductions in recent weeks.