Colombo, Apr 20: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Monday warned the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran to surrender within 24 hours.

Concerned over the insurgency in the island nation, Rajapaksa said that if Prabhakaran fails to do so by Tuesday afternoon, the Lankan troops will go all out for a final military assault.

Rajapaksa told the reporters here that government forces opened up routes for more than 35,000 people to escape from the LTTE-held territory.

Colombo- A top UN official met with Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa Friday to discuss humanitarian issues related to civilians trapped in a rebel-held area in the north-eastern part of the country, officials said.

Vijay Nambiar, chief of staff of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, met Rajapaksa as local and international concern was growing about the safety of the civilians trapped in the war zone in Mullativu, 395 kilometres north of the capital.

Details of the meeting were not available immediately.

Colombo  - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday visited the former administrative town of the Tamil separatist rebels, which is now under the control of security forces, the president's office said.

Rajapaksa was flown to Kilinochchi, 370 kilometres north of Colombo, where he met with soldiers and toured the area to see the destruction caused in the fall of the rebels' de-facto capital in January, a statement from the office said.

Colombo - Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the suffering of civilians in the northern part of the country was the "sole responsibility of the Tamil rebels who are holding them as a human shield," the president's office said Friday. The president conveyed his position during a telephone conversation with the UN secretary general on Thursday during Rajapaksa's official state visit to Libya.

Kathmandu - Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa cut short his three-day official visit to Nepal Tuesday after an attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Pakistan, official reports said.

The Sri Lankan president and his delegation were now scheduled to leave Kathmandu Tuesday evening, a day before his scheduled departure, the official Nepal Television said.

Rajapaksa's meetings with Nepalese politicians as well as his trip to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha in southern Nepal, have been cancelled, the station said.

Kathmandu, Mar 3 : Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has cut his stay in Nepal in the wake of attack on Sri Lankan cricket team at Lahore in Pakistan on Tuesday.

Rajapaksa has cancelled his trip to Lumbini.

He had arrived Nepal yesterday on a three-day visit on the invitation of his Nepali counterpart President Dr Ram Baran Yadav.

During his visit, he met Dr. Yadav and Prime Minister Prachanda.