Chennai, Jan. 12 : A Sri Lankan lawmakers delegation belonging to the Tamil National Alliance Party, on Monday, appealed to the Tamil Nadu and Indian Governments to intervene in the military offensive against the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the island nation.

The team of five legislators asked the Indian leadership to mediate and save the lives of thousands of innocent Tamils.

"We (are)appealing to chief minister Tamil Nadu and central government, we are expecting to stop the war immediately otherwise our people will die, definitely they will die. So stop the war immediately and take action for peace talks," said Sambandam, a Sri Lankan legislator.

The delegation alleged that Sri Lankan Army was regularly carrying out intense aerial bombardment and also firing multi-barrel rocket launchers at Tamil civil population, killing thousands of innocent people.

"The Sri Lankan government is unable to come up with a political solution to the Tamil question and that is the reason, why the Sri Lankan government has unleashed this process of genocide. The Sri Lanka government claims that it is conducting war against the LTTE. But the reality is that the main victims of war are non-combatant Tamil civilians. If the process continues without being stopped it is inevitable the Sri Lankan government would be successful in its genocidal programme," said Padmini Chidambaanathan, another Sri Lankan legislator.

Legislators further added that thousands of Tamil people are living without food and clothes and most of them are living in the forest area.

Sri Lankan troops fought the shrinking strongholds of the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels on Sunday, the military said, seeking a crushing battlefield victory to end one of Asia''s longest insurgent ground wars.

The Sri Lankan military said it had killed at least 24 rebels after a series of confrontations on Saturday in the small northeastern wedge of jungle, which is all that is left of the Tigers'' self-proclaimed state.

Soldiers seized Kilinochchi, which the rebels had dubbed their capital, on Jan. 2 and a week later ran the LTTE out of Elephant Pass, the strategic gateway to the northern Jaffna Peninsula, which had been in rebel hands since 2000.

Both major victories have cleared the way for soldiers to converge on the port of Mullaittivu with the aim of ending the 25-year ground war.

The LTTE better known as Tigers contend that they are fighting to address mistreatment of minority Tamils since the Sinhalese ethnic majority took over at independence from Britain in 1948.

But many Sinhalese say Tamils enjoyed unfair advantages in colonial times and want them back.

The Tigers are on U. S., European Union and Indian terrorism lists after carrying out hundreds of assassinations and suicide bombings, including against Tamils who challenged them. (ANI)