Troops mostly operating in small groups of Special Forces and Commando units began a new operation in February and the strategic A5 highway on 12 April, bringing the entire highway under government control for the first time in 15 years. This meant the LTTE's presence in the east was reduced to a 140-square-kilometer pocket of jungle in the Thoppigala area northwest of Batticaloa. After the three-month-long Battle of Thoppigala, the army captured the Thoppigala peak on 11 July 2007, ending the LTTE's military capability in the Eastern Province and concluding Eelam War IV in the Eastern theatre.