COLOMBO, July 17 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops killed 24 Tamil Tiger rebels and are advancing into a rebel-held area in the far north after capturing a strategically important coastal town from the Tamil Tigers, the military said on Thursday.

The military said they captured the northwestern town of Vidattaltivu on Wednesday, describing it as the main base of the Tigers' sea wing and their logistics hub for the west.

The military described the capture as a "fatal blow" to the rebels.

"Troops are consolidating the Vidattaltivu area and advancing further north from there to liberate the north from LTTE terrorists," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, referring to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Nanayakkara also said 24 Tamil Tiger rebels had been killed and 49 wounded in fighting a day earlier. Three soldiers were also killed and 19 were wounded.

Fighting in the 25-year civil war is now concentrated in the north after the Sri Lankan army, which has vowed to finish off the Tigers this year, drove the rebels out of their eastern enclave in 2007.

The Tigers, fighting for an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka for ethnic Tamils, a minority in the predominantly Sinhalese country, were not immediately available for comment.

Analysts say the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of the long-running war given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east, though they still see no clear winner on the horizon.

An estimated 70,000 people have died since the civil war began in 1983.

The Tigers regularly retaliate with suicide attacks increasingly targeting civilians and by using roadside bombs, experts and the military say, deterring some tourists and worrying investors in the $27 billion economy. (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal)

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