Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa delivered a victory address to parliament today, declaring that his country had been “liberated” from terrorism after defeating the Tamil Tiger rebels on the battlefield.

SRI LANKA declared it had crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels, killing their chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, and ending his three-decade quest for an independent homeland for minority Tamils.

The Tamil Tiger rebels admitted defeat in their 25-year-old war with the Sri Lankan government today, offering to lay down their guns as government forces swept across their last strongholds in the northeast.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today his country has militarily defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels.

SRI LANKA’S rebels declared a unilateral ceasefire yesterday, but the government refused to halt its offensive into the last strip of land the insurgents hold despite concerns for tens of thousands of civilians trapped there.

HUNDREDS who fled intense fighting in Sri Lanka’s war zone were awaiting evacuation from this tiny coastal village yesterday as the UN reported that nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the past three months.

Hundreds who fled heavy fighting in Sri Lanka’s war zone waited to be evacuated from a tiny coastal village today as the UN reported that nearly 6,500 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the last three months.

Sri Lanka today announced it will suspend offensives against Tamil Tiger rebels for two days to enable tens of thousands of trapped civilians to move out of the war zone.

A former rebel leader whose defection helped Sri Lanka push the Tamil Tigers to the brink of defeat has joined the ruling party and been named a government minister.

The funeral procession for a murdered Sri Lankan editor turned into a protest march today with thousands accusing the government of responsibility in his death

The editor of a Sri Lankan newspaper critical of the government was shot dead as he drove to work today, the second violent attack on media this week.