The Ceylon News

Sri Lankan security forces are close to finishing their final assault on the Tamil Tiger rebels by entering the separatists' last held town north of the country, according to a statement by defense ministry officials.

"Computers, computer accessories, switches, telephones which were believed to be used for international communication through satellite were also found from the scene," it added.

"As troops encircled the LTTE's last remaining stronghold, Puthukudiirippu, terrorists had to withdraw from the area leaving behind this high-tech satellite relaying machines used for international communication," military officials said.

The ministry said that at least 13 rebel fighters were killed in the fighting, but did not disclose details on casualties, if any, suffered by the Sri Lankan security troops.

Meanwhile, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are reportedly prepared for a ceasefire with the Sri Lankan government as indicated in the rebels' letter to the United Nations on Monday..

"We are ready to discuss, cooperate, and work together in all their efforts to bring an immediate ceasefire and work towards a political settlement," Tigers' political chief Balasingham Nadesan wrote in the letter, according to Press TV.

The LTTE, which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and India, has been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland.

The rebels have fighting for an independent state for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority since 1983 and the insurgency has killed at least 70,000 people.

Over the last few weeks, more than 50,000 Sri Lankan troops have been combing through a 67-square-mile (175-square-kilometer) sliver of jungle in the northeast region killing many guerrillas.

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes has indicated that the people held captive by the LTTE remains a major concern.

According to him, the civilians face "very great danger" from fighting between the Sri Lankan government forces and the LTTE rebels and there is "strong evidence the LTTE is preventing them from leaving."

Recently, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said that the fierce clashes between the two sides in northern Sri Lanka have caused a massive displacement of civilians and the affected areas may take multiple years to rebuild.

The Sri Lankan government said Sunday that it has dispatched more food to the displaced Tamil civilians trapped in the island's northern battle zone.

"We sent 90 metric tons of food yesterday (Saturday) by sea to Mullaittivu," Rishath Bathiyutheen, the minister of Resettlement told reporters.

Bathiyutheen said the food will be distributed among the civilians by the Government Agent's network.

Some 70,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in the Mullaithivu area, the last stronghold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Meanwhile, the Navy said that it ferried another lot of over 100 sick civilians from Mullaittivu to the eastern port of Trincomalee by the ship "Green Ocean" Saturday night.

They will be provided with medical facilities in Trincomalee.

Some 2,000 of the sick had been ferried to Trincomalee during February, officials said.

The LTTE has faced international condemnation for holding the civilians as human shields in the military clashes with government troops.

The government created two safe zones for civilians to leave the battle zone and has urged the rebels to allow free movement for them.

Over 36,000 civilians have already arrived in government controlled areas in Vavuniya and Jaffna where the government provides welfare facilities for the civilians.

The military said their war against the LTTE is at the final stage as the rebel group has been cornered in a small area less than 60 sq km in Mullaittivu.

The LTTE has been fighting since the mid-1980s to set up a separate homeland for the minority Tamil community in the island's north and east, claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese majority ruling community.

New York/Colombo, Feb 28: The conditions of the displaced Tamil civilians, currently lodged in IDP camps, in Sri Lanka's embattled north are "reasonably" good and are being provided with all humanitarian assistance, a top UN official has said.

The official also voiced concern over the fate of the thousands of civilians pushed into a shrinking pocket of land in the island's due to ongoing clashes between government forces and the LTTE.

UN Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, who visited Sri Lanka last week, told the Security Council in a closed door meeting yesterday that many of these people have been uprooted several times in recent months or years, and are in danger of getting caught in the crossfire between the two sides.

The world body estimates that some 200,000 people are being squeezed into a narrow 14-square kilometre patch of land on the coast in Wanni which the Sri Lankan government has declared a "no-fire zone."

Meanwhile, a Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry statement said Holmes gave some descriptions of his conversations with IDPs and commented on the "fairly satisfactory" physical conditions and the efforts made to have acceptable screening procedures.

"Sir John gave a favourable account of the humanitarian assistance being provided by the Government of Sri Lanka to the civilians held captive by the LTTE as human shields as well as to those who have managed to escape and come into the Government controlled areas," the statement said.

The violence has impeded humanitarian aid delivery, with supplies of food, medical supplies, clean water and other essential supplies in critically short supply, Holmes said.

"The risks from hunger and diseases are growing rapidly, in addition to those from fighting," noted Holmes, who also serves as UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

He told the 15-member Council of his visits to camps for internally displaced persons, adding that the movement into and out of these sites is "currently highly and unacceptably restricted."

Holmes described the situation of trapped people as dire but acknowledged IDPS in transit camps are reasonably well, the statement said.

Holmes said he was not aware of major outbreak of disease in the conflict area.

The troops are pushing the Tigers into a shrinking territory of jungle in the north-east [AFP] Sri Lankan troops have entered the last town held by Tamil Tiger separatists in the country's north, according to defence ministry officials. Government forces were engaged in "intense fighting" as they battled their way into Puthukkudiyiruppu, the ministry said in a statement. "Troops who entered the town found the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) high-tech satellite communication centre and met stiff resistance as they advanced into built-up areas," it said. At least 13 Tigers were killed in the fighting, the ministry said, but did not mention if security forces suffered any casualties. The LTTE has made no comment. The town was the "last objective" and the end of the war could be measured in days, not weeks, brigadier Shavendra Silva, a senior military officer, told the Reuters news agency earlier last week. 'Great danger' Only a handful of small coastal villages that remain in the hands of the LTTE, according to the military. Focus: Sri Lanka Q&A: Sri Lanka's civil war The history of the Tamil Tigers Timeline: Conflict in Sri Lanka 'High cost' of victory over Tigers Caught in the middle Troops also reportedly seized a 1.5km stretch of Tamil Tiger bunkers in an area east of the town and destroyed 10 boats belonging to the Sea Tigers, the separatists' naval unit. The army has driven the Tigers into a small area of jungle in the north-east over the past few weeks. The offensive has raised alarm over the safety of tens of thousands of civilians trapped in the war zone. John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, said on Saturday: "[Civilians] now face very great danger from fighting between the Sri Lankan government forces and the LTTE and there is strong evidence the LTTE are preventing them from leaving." Escalating fighting The International Committee of the Red Cross said last month hundreds of civilians had died in the fighting. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been trapped in the conflict zone [Reuters] Thousands of people, including Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim civilians, are estimated to have been killed since fighting escalated after 2005. Thousands more have been displaced. The LTTE is fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka's north, claiming Tamils have suffered years of discrimination by the country's Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting since Sri Lanka's civil war began in 1983.