Sri Lanka military cuts off rebel sea escape

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) " Sri Lankan forces took control of the entire island's coastline today, trapping the Tamil Tigers in a tiny pocket of territory and cutting off any sea escape for the rebels' top leaders, the military said.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa vowed to defeat the remaining rebel fighters and end the 25-year-old civil war by tonight.

The latest military success gave the government full control of the coast for the first time in nearly a quarter century. The rebels, who once ran a de facto state across the north, had controlled a formidable navy and sea smuggling operation.

Government forces have been hunting for the reclusive Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his top deputies for months, but it was unclear if they were still in the remaining patch of rebel territory or already had fled overseas.

Two army divisions moving along two fronts on the island's northeastern coast linked up at the coastal village of Vellamullivaikkal early today, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

The rebels, who are fighting for a homeland for minority Tamils, are cornered along with tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in a 1.2-square mile (3.1-square kilometer) strip between a lagoon and the sea.

International concern has grown for civilians amid the unrelenting artillery bombardments shaking the war zone, and the Red Cross has warned of "an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe" for the hundreds of wounded trapped without treatment.

Hoping to end the bloodshed, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent his chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, to Sri Lanka for a second time to try to bring the conflict to a peaceful conclusion. Nambiar was to arrive today and hold meetings with top government officials.

However, the government has brushed off repeated calls from foreign diplomats for a humanitarian truce in the conflict, saying it would only give the reeling rebels time to regroup.

The U.N. says 7,000 civilians were killed and 16,700 wounded in the fighting from Jan. 20 until May 7, according to a U.N. document given to The Associated Press by a senior diplomat.

Since then, doctors in the war zone say more than 1,000 civilians have been killed in a week of heavy shelling that rights groups and foreign governments have blamed on Sri Lankan forces. Sri Lanka denies firing heavy weapons into the war zone.

Amid the heavy fighting, some 9,347 civilians escaped the war zone Friday by wading across a lagoon, Nanayakkara said. More than 13,000 civilians had fled since Thursday, he said.

More than 200,000 civilians have escaped the war zone in recent months and are being held in displacement camps.

On Thursday night, Rajapaksa said the war would be over within 48 hours and said the trapped civilians would be quickly freed from the territory still controlled by the guerrillas, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

"The freedom of the Tamil civilians held hostage by the LTTE is near at hand and the rescue of all civilians in the small patch of land held by the LTTE will be done in 48 hours," Rajapaksa told migrant workers in Jordan on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told The Associated Press in Jordan that Sri Lankan soldiers were probably fighting their final battle against the remaining rebel fighters. He said reports have indicated that relatives of top rebel leaders are starting to flee the war zone.

The navy intercepted a boat off the northeastern coast Friday and arrested the wife, son and daughter of the rebels' sea wing leader, who were among 11 people on board, Nanayakkara said.

The rebels have denied accusations they were holding the civilians as human shields and were shooting at those trying to flee. Sri Lanka denies reports it is firing heavy weapons into the war zone.

Reports of the fighting are difficult to verify because the government has barred most journalists and aid workers from the conflict zone.

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Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby contributed to this report from Southern Shuneh, Jordan.