Colombo, Apr. 24: National Security Adviser M. K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon called Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday and reportedly urged him and his government to work towards declaring a truce in the closing chapter of a 25-year war in which nearly 6,500 civilians have lost their lives since February 2009.

Colombo : Government troops fought their way into some of the last Tamil rebel-held areas in a north-eastern Sri Lanka on Friday, with special focus on locating the hideout of the rebel leader Velupillai Prabhkaran, military officials said.

The officials said that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which had been capturing visual images from air, also have been used to monitor the movements of the rebels and locate the area where the rebel leader is believed to be hiding.

Colombo, Apr 24 : National

Colombo, Apr. 23 : The Sri Lankan Army on Thursday said that it is closing in on LTTE Chief V. Prabhakaran''s hide out, adding that the guerrillas now controlled a mere 10-12 square kilometres of territory on the northeast coast, where thousands of civilians are still trapped by the fighting.

The army claim as Seevaratnam Puleedevan, secretary-general of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) peace secretariat, urged the international community to intervene by forcing a permanent ceasefire, which Sri Lanka has ruled out.

Colombo - Refugees streamed out of the shrinking Tamil rebel-held areas again Wednesday as government troops tightened a cordon around the zone in north-eastern Sri Lanka, military spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said.

Rambukwella told journalists that 81,420 civilian refugees had been counted since Monday in the Puthumathalan area, about 390 kilometres north-east of the capital, and the exodus was continuing.

Colombo, Apr. 22 : Two top leaders of the rebel Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Ealam (LTTE) have surrendered before the Sri Lanka Army in Puthumathalam.

According to a Times Now report, Daya Master and George surrendered before officers of the 58th Division of the Sri Lankan Army.

Daya Master and George were part of the LTTE supreme V. Prabhakaran’s inner circle, and were key spokesmen of the rebel outfit.