Colombo - Government troops have cornered the Tamil rebels in an area of 24 square kilometres in northern Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said Thursday.

"We have eliminated terrorism from most parts of the country and will be able to report that terrorism has been eliminated from the entire country within days", Wickremanayake told parliament.

He said that once fighting ended, "the democratic rights of the people will be restored" and they will be able to elect representatives of their choice to local councils as well as provincial councils - the local political administration in the northern region.

The comments came as the military said that 23 more Tamil rebels were killed in fighting in the north as troops overcame resistance put up by the rebels in fighting on Wednesday.

Troops have found 12 of the bodies of those reported killed in the Mullaitivu district, 290 kilometres northeast of the capital.

On Wednesday 384 more civilians crossed over to government controlled areas from the rebel held areas of Mullaitivu.

While the governnment says some 65,000 civilians remain in the rebel-controlled area, UN agencies say the figure is around 150,000.

Since January 45,519 civilians have crossed over from rebel- controlled to government-controlled areas. (dpa)