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.

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

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 Lanka’s Tamil Tiger leaders remained at large today after the president declared victory in his nation’s quarter-century civil war with the rebels.

Sri Lanka’s government said it is considering an amnesty for Tamil Tiger rebels who surrender – but not for leaders of the insurgency, which is facing defeat after 25 years of civil war.

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.

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.

Sri Lankan troops closed in on separatist rebels in an ever-shrinking coastal war zone, as two prominent guerrillas surrendered and tens of thousands of refugees clutching their belongings fled the fighting in boats.

Two Tamil Tiger planes sent on a raid over the Sri Lankan capital were on a suicide mission, rebels said today.

SRI LANKA’S elusive Tamil rebel supremo was wounded in an air strike last month by security forces shortly after his annual policy broadcast, a privately run newspaper reported yesterday.

The head of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers’ political wing was killed in a government airstrike today.

Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran today said the 2002 ceasefire with Sri Lankan government was “defunct” and blamed the Sri Lankan government for failing to address the Tamil homeland demand through negotiations.

Tamil Tigers and bereaved families lit lamps and garlanded portraits of fallen fighters in rebel-held parts of Sri Lanka to mark the end of Hero’s Week, as the rebels’ reclusive leader prepared to make his annual policy speech today.

SRI LANKA’S Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday agreed to lift a two-week-old water blockade on government-held villages that has provoked some of the fiercest fighting in years.

The Tamil Tiger rebels said today that the Sri Lankan government has failed to honour a pledge made at peace talks in Geneva earlier this year to disarm paramilitary groups.

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels said today they have agreed to hold talks with the government in Switzerland in February, raising hopes that the country may avoid sliding back to war.

Norwegian envoy Eric Solheim arrived in northern Sri Lanka for crucial talks with the reclusive leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels today, amid fears the island could return to civil war after four years of relative calm.

Sri Lanka’s president and a top Norwegian peace envoy are meeting today in a desperate attempt to prevent the nation’s slide back into civil war as separatist rebels prepared for a possible return to the battlefield.

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.

Envoys from Asia and Europe met Tamil Tiger rebels’ top political leader today, expressing concern that growing violence was threatening to shatter the country’s cease-fire, officials and the rebels said.

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels ambushed a naval convoy in north-western Sri Lanka today, killing 13 sailors and injuring at least two others, the navy said.

Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to resume talks with the Sri Lankan government to review the country’s fragile cease-fire, the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo and a rebel spokesman said today.

Security concerns again plagued tsunami relief efforts, as rebels in Indonesia’s Aceh province accused government troops of ditching an informal truce.

A top Tamil Tiger rebel negotiator returned to Sri Lanka today amid new efforts by Norwegian peace brokers to revive stalled peace talks and prevent the island from sliding back to war.

Officials from Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebel group are due to visit Ireland this week to draw up proposals aimed at reviving the country’s stalled peace process.

The Tamil Tiger chief - one of Asia's most wanted men - has appeared at his first news conference in 15 years.

Sri Lanka's new government says it is likely to "respond positively" to the Tamil Tiger rebels' declaration of a one-month ceasefire.

A Norwegian peace envoy has arrived in the Sri Lankan capital to renew efforts to resume peace talks between the government and Tamil Tigers to end the country's protracted civil war.