The Ceylon News

Sri Lanka's navy on Tuesday destroyed four Tamil Tiger boats and killed 16 guerrillas trying to escape as government soldiers closed in on the rebels' last base in the northeast of the island, the military said.

Officials said the pre-dawn naval battle erupted in waters off Mullaittivu, a jungle and lagoon area and the last town in Sri Lanka still in the hands of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

A naval blockade has been stepped up to prevent any rebel leaders from leaving the country. On the ground, government forces claim they have the Mullaittivu area surrounded.

Reeling under the military's biggest ground, air and sea offensive in more than three decades of fighting, the Tigers have seen their territory rapidly shrink, with their political capital of Kilinochchi falling earlier this month.

Sri Lanka's army chief, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, said over the weekend that the LTTE's leadership, including elusive rebel supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, 54, may have already fled by sea.

The guerrillas still control a 40-kilometre (25-mile) stretch of coastline in Mullaittivu around which the navy said it has set up four layers of barriers to restrict guerrilla boat movements.

In Tuesday's pre-dawn battle, the defence ministry said the navy intercepted rebel boats trying to flee the area.

It said a navy fast attack craft was damaged when a Tiger suicide boat detonated next to it, but that government sailors had forced the Tigers "to retreat and abandon the mission."

The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website, however, said the guerrillas carried out a suicide attack and had sunk a navy fast attack craft.

"A flotilla of Sea Tigers intercepted a convoy of Sri Lanka navy Dvora fast attack craft (FAC)," Tamilnet said. "A fierce sea battle ensued. One Super Dvora FAC was sunk by (suicide) Black Sea Tigers."

In the latest ground fighting around Mullaittivu, the army said it had captured a large LTTE oil storage depot.

"Tiger terrorists, in order to stall the troop movement into the oil storage complex, have booby-trapped or planted explosive devices circling the entire premises," the army said in a statement.

It said troops were on Tuesday removing mines from the area.

Military claims cannot be verified as independent media are barred from travelling to frontlines.

Sri Lanka's government pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels a year ago, and has since embarked on its most determined effort yet to dismantle the LTTE's northern mini-state once and for all.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has said that his troops are on the verge of victory and he will not accept anything short of total surrender from the Tigers.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the drawn-out separatist conflict.

The military is tightening its control of remaining rebel areas

The Sri Lankan navy says that four Tamil Tiger military boats have been destroyed in a sea battle off the country's north-eastern coast.

The navy said one of its vessels was damaged in a blast during the fighting.

A pro-rebel website said the Tigers attacked a Sri Lankan convoy and destroyed a navy attack craft.

Fighting is continuing around the sole remaining rebel stronghold of Mullaitivu as the army presses ahead with its offensive.

Rebel leader

Navy spokesman Capt DKP Dassanayake said that patrol vessels attacked a number of rebel boats off Mullaittivu late on Monday.

He said the navy sank rebel boats and a naval boat was damaged when explosives stored in a rebel boat exploded.

But a pro-rebel website quoted the rebels as saying that they had attacked a Sri Lankan convoy and destroyed a navy fast attack craft.

Independent journalists are not allowed in the conflict zone and information from both sides cannot be verified.

The sea battle has come at a time when the government has intensified its offensive against the rebels.

The army says it is pressing ahead after capturing Kilinochchi - the rebels' administrative centre - and the strategically important Elephant Pass.

Elephant Pass was the latest strategic victory in the offensive

The Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.

The rebels had established a de facto state squeezed between government-controlled Jaffna in the north and the rest of the country.

But the latest military offensive has forced the rebels to give up much of their territory.

The Sri Lankan navy says it has deployed more than 25 vessels off the north-eastern coast to prevent the rebels from escaping the area they have been restricted to.

The military is on high alert to prevent the possible escape of top Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, although some analysts say it is unlikely he will either flee or be taken alive.

Fears remain for thousands of civilians caught in the conflict zone.

The Red Cross has called for a safe escape route for them. The safety of patients in hospitals within the conflict zone is also a concern.

The government said last week it was fully prepared to handle "the mass exodus of civilians" the fighting with the rebels might cause.

The military has set up a naval blockade off the coast to prevent LTTE movement [EPA] Sri Lankan special forces have mounted a search for Velupillai Prabhakaran, the Tamil Tiger leader, as the military continued to battle fighters in the country's north. Military sources said on Tuesday that four Tamil Tiger boats had been destroyed near Mullativu, the fighters' last base, as they tried to escape government forces. Around 16 fighters were killed in the sea battle, the sources said. Miliatry officials believe that Prabhakaran could be hiding in a bunker in the jungles of Puthukkudiyiruppu and Vishwamadu in Mullativu district. Prabhakaran has successfully eluded capture since Sri Lanka's civil war began over two decades ago. Naval blockade Officials said they were using spy planes that monitored satellite phone transmissions and took photographs of the jungle region to try to pin-point Prabhakaran's location. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said: "We are hunting for him, and using every method [to find him]." The military has also set up a naval blockade off the country's northeast coast to prevent Prabhakaran from escaping. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's defence secretary, said in a TV interview last week: "If he has not fled the country already, we will be able to capture Prabhakaran very soon." MR Narayan Swamy, an Indian journalist who wrote a biography of the LTTE leader, said the loss of Prabhakaran would be devastating to the group. "He is their brain. He is their heart. He is their god. He is their soul, and the whole organisation runs around him," he said. Military advance In recent weeks, Sri Lanka's military has captured much of the Tiger's territory, with Kilinochchi, the Tiger's de facto capital, falling earlier this month. The fighters still control a 40km stretch of coastline off of Mullaitivu, but the navy says it has set up four layers of naval barriers to restrict LTTE boat movement. The defence ministry said a navy fast attack craft was damaged in the sea battle on Tuesday when a Tiger suicide boat detonated next to it. A conflicting report on a pro-Tamil website said that fighters carried out a suicide attack and sank a navy fast attack craft. The navy denied that their craft had sunk. Sri Lanka's government pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the Tigers a year ago and has since embarked on its most determined effort yet to dismantle LTTE territory. Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's president, has said that his troops are on the verge of victory and that he will not accept anything short of total surrender from the Tigers. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict so fa