More than a thousand Sri Lankans protested outside the British Embassy in Colombo today, accusing the British government of supporting the Tamil Tiger rebels and burning an effigy of Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

Four top Tamil Tiger officials, including the supreme leader’s eldest son, were killed in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone, the military said today.

Sri Lanka pressed ahead with its battle to destroy the Tamil Tiger rebels today despite appeals from US President Barack Obama and the UN for the two sides to end the civil war and let thousands of trapped civilians escape to safety.

SRI LANKA’S government said yesterday it is considering an amnesty for Tamil Tiger rebels who surrender – although not for leaders of the insurgency, which is facing defeat after 25 years of civil war.

Sri Lanka’s separatist rebels have asked Britain and France to continue pushing for a ceasefire in the island’s civil war after the two European nations’ foreign ministers failed to secure a halt in the fighting to allow civilians to evacuate.