GOVERNMENT forces captured the Tamil Tigers’ de facto capital in northern Sri Lanka yesterday, dealing a devastating blow to the rebels’ quarter-century fight for an independent state, the president said.

A rebel-affiliated website said today a pre-emptive strike against Sri Lankan troops killed 60 soldiers close to the Tamil Tigers northern headquarters.

Clashes between government forces and Tamil Tiger separatists killed at least 40 combatants across northern Sri Lanka, the military said today, as air force jets bombed a rebel commanders' camp.

At least 34 people across northern Sri Lanka have been killed in the latest spate of violence across the country.

Commandos overran a Tamil Tiger rebel base in eastern Sri Lanka today, killing at least 20 guerrillas in fighting that also left three commandos dead, the military said.

The Sri Lankan army said today that it killed 10 Tamil Tiger rebels during a battle in the country’s volatile east.

About 3,000 Tamil civilians braved flooded, mine-laden jungle paths to flee from separatist fighting into government-held areas in eastern Sri Lanka today, officials and witnesses said.

Sri Lanka’s military carried out airstrikes on Tamil rebel artillery positions today in the first air raid since failed peace talks in Switzerland, the Defence Ministry said.

At least 52 Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in heavy clashes with Sri Lankan troops, the military said today.

Sri Lanka’s military has lost 28 soldiers in three days of artillery attacks as it advanced on Tamil Tiger rebel strongholds, officials said today.

Sri Lanka’s navy and ethnic Tamil rebels engaged in a high-sea gun battle that lasted until dawn today, the military said, claiming to have sunk 12 rebel boats, including five suicide craft, and killing about 80 rebels.

Hundreds of Sri Lankan soldiers raided a university, seizing computers and detaining a student, in the northern Tamil heartland where the government has been battling separatist rebels, the military and a pro-rebel website said today.

Soldiers and Tamil Tiger rebels traded artillery and mortar fire in northern Sri Lanka today, an official said, as schools closed in the capital over fears that civilians could be targeted by insurgent bombings.

The Tamil Tiger rebels ruled out peace talks as battles raged in Sri Lanka’s north and east.

A pro-rebel website today reported that Sri Lankan jets bombed a children's home in the country's rebel-held north-east, killing 43 schoolgirls who were there taking a first aid course.

Tamil Tiger rebels today said they had appealed to Norway for help in getting food and other essentials to 42,000 civilians trapped in fighting between the insurgents and Sri Lankan government forces.

A roadside bomb exploded near an ambulance in a Tamil rebel-held part of northern Sri Lanka today, killing five people, including a doctor and two nurses.

Thousands of civilians have been trapped by fighting in Sri Lanka’s northeast, and the most desperate among them have started walking through the forests to escape the battles, a Red Cross official said today.

Dozens of Tamil Tiger rebels infiltrated a small, government-held town during fierce fighting in northeastern Sri Lanka, and soldiers were trying to flush them out, a government spokesman said today.

SRI LANKAN forces yesterday launched a new air and ground offensive to wrest a key reservoir from Tamil rebels who have cut off water to 60,000 villagers, while the rebels claimed to have sunk a navy warship.

At least 10 soldiers and four Tamil Tiger rebels were killed today in fresh fighting in eastern Sri Lanka, a pro-rebel website said.

Martin McGuinness today urged the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels to prevent the island nation from slipping back to full-scale civil war, his party said.

Sri Lankan troops stormed a village church where about 200 Tamil civilians sought shelter today, shooting indiscriminately and then attacking fishermen in an assault that killed five people and injured 47 more, witnesses said.

A powerful land mine ripped through a bus packed with commuters and schoolchildren in northern Sri Lanka today, killing at least 62 people.

The European Union has called a Tamil rebel attack on a Sri Lankan navy convoy a reckless move that puts the future of peace talks in serious jeopardy.

Sri Lanka’s military launched airstrikes on Tamil rebel bases today after navy craft came under attack, and a pro-rebel web site reported at least 12 people killed as the country appeared on the brink of returning to civil war.

Sri Lanka’s military launched airstrikes on Tamil rebel bases today after navy craft came under attack, and a pro-rebel web site reported at least 12 people killed as the nation appeared to head back into full-scale fighting.

A faction of Tamil insurgents attacked rival Tamil Tiger rebels in eastern Sri Lanka today, killing at least one person.

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels rammed an explosives-laden fishing boat into a Sri Lankan navy vessel off the north-western coast early today, killing at least 15 sailors and leaving three missing, officials said.

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a pro-rebel legislator as he attended midnight Mass at a church in eastern Sri Lanka, the Defence Ministry said today, sparking fears of a return to civil war in the island nation.

Attackers hurled more than five hand grenades into a political office of the Tamil Tigers in eastern Sri Lanka today, a pro-rebel website reported.

Sri Lanka’s government is allocating disaster relief to Tamils in rebel-controlled territory without discrimination, the prime minister said today, as he warned that the guerillas’ appeal for direct international aid would further split the war-ravaged country.

THE renegade rebel army of a commander who defected from the Tamil Tiger separatists and placed Sri Lanka’s cease-fire in jeopardy was falling apart yesterday, following their retreat from battle with the mainstream guerrillas, military sources said.

Tamil Tiger guerrillas advanced on a heavily armed breakaway faction today in a vicious gun and mortar battle that killed at least nine people, wounded 20 and imperilled Sri Lanka’s fragile two-year-old cease-fire.

Heavy mortar shelling and gunfire erupted today between two Tamil Tiger rebel factions, killing at least eight guerrillas and wounding five, in Sri Lanka’s first battle since a 2002 cease-fire halted its civil war.

The alliance of President Chandrika Kumaratunga emerged as the largest winner in Sri Lanka’s parliamentary elections, but fell eight seats short of a majority and plans to seek a partner to forge a ruling coalition.

SRI LANKA’S president has declared a state of emergency, deepening the country’s political crisis as her political rival was set to meet with US President George W Bush in Washington.

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have welcomed a government move to lift a ban on them.