SL Army 800 m away from Prabhakaran

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan forces on Thursday fought their way to just 800 metres from the area where an estimated 10,000-15,000 Tamil civilians are trapped along with the top LTTE leadership. Subsequently, president Mahinda Rajapaksa declared that the war was ���nearing the end���.

Mr Rajapaksa also promised Colombo-based foreign diplomats that once Tamil Tigers were eliminated, his government proposed to bring democracy to the north island.

���The war with LTTE is rapidly nearing its conclusion and we propose to create space for democracy in the north again,��� the president said. His comments come as almost three divisions of the Sri Lankan army are closing in on trapped Tamil Tigers supremo V Prabhakaran and his top aides.

Latest battlefield reports said the government troops pushed into the rebel-held village of Karayamulliavaikkal, advancing over areas heavily mined by the Tigers and fighting off attacks from their suicide bombers. A military spokesman said the troops had breached through the last earthen fortification bringing them as close as 800 m of the area in Mullaitivu, where LTTE leadership is holed up in the midst of Tamil civilians.

The spokesman said Tigers are deploying suicide bombers in the large numbers to slow down the Sri Lankan advance from overrunning them.