Colombo - The Sri Lankan army, backed by police commandos, mounted a search operation in the south of the country Monday after eight civilians were massacred by suspected Tamil rebels overnight, a military spokesman said. Rebels stormed the village of Mahagodayaya in the Buttala area, 340 kilometres south-east of Colombo, Sunday night and opened fire at the residents, he said.

A one-and-a-half-year-old toddler, an 11-year-old boy and three women were among those killed.

Small groups of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels are known to be operating in the south-eastern part of the country and have been carrying out sporadic attacks on villagers as well as security guards in the area.

However, the military said there are no large camps or substantive numbers of rebels in the area.

The attack came as President Mahinda Rajapaksa ordered troops to halt fighting in the northern part of the country for the Sri Lankan New Year observed Monday and Tuesday by the minority Hindu Tamils and the majority Sinhala Buddhists, allowing civilians to flee the conflict zone.

Rajapaksa has called on the rebels to allow civilians to leave the last rebel-held area of less 20 square kilometers, which has been surrounded by the military.

At least 50,000 civilians have been trapped in the area, with the military claiming that the rebels are preventing them from leaving.

The military says they are about to crush the LTTE, who have been fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the northern and eastern parts of the country for decades. (dpa)