The camps were uncovered by a Special Task Force, comprising of specially trained anti-terrorist commandoes who last week seized control of four rebel bases and seven smaller camps in the eastern Ampara district, the Media Center for National Security said in a report posted on its Web site late Monday.

At one of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam camps ``torture chambers and lockups were established to torture escapees and informers including women cadres,'' it said. More... Discuss this story Published: Mon Jan 15 23:52:11 EST 2007

The posts were overrun in the Kanchikudichchiaru forest reserve by a police special task force, the Media Center for National Security said on its Web site.

Security forces are ``consolidating their positions under heavy resistance from the LTTE,'' the Center said. Several rebel fighters have surrendered, it said, without giving any details. The LTTE hasn't commented on the offensive.

Fighting in Sri Lanka intensified last May in the eastern region and spread to the northern Jaffna peninsula, halting the peace process aimed at ending a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 60,000 people. Talks in Geneva in October collapsed without any progress between the government and the Tamil Tigers who are fighting for a separate homeland in areas they control in the north and east of the country. More... Discuss this story Published: Mon Jan 15 21:07:15 EST 2007

Village heads in Ampara district were told to deliver the announcement to Tamil Tiger rebels who were in hiding or on the run after four rebel bases and seven smaller camps fell to military control last week, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.

Five rebels surrendered to police commandoes in Amapara on Sunday evening, he said, without giving further details.

Samarasinghe urged the rebels to hand themselves in at the nearest police or army post.

The Tamil Tigers ridiculed the idea.

``It is not an issue worth commenting upon,'' rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said from the insurgents' headquarters of Kilinochchi. ``Now and then they (military) make such meaningless announcements, but we are not bothered.''

Ilanthirayan admitted, however, that Sri Lankan forces had moved into some rebel-held areas in Ampara.

``Off course they made advances to our territory in Ampara, but then in Ampara we operate in a guerrilla mode,'' he said, adding that they are continually on the move.

Separately, Sri Lankan troops fatally shot five rebels who confronted them while on a foot patrol in eastern Sri Lanka. The troops recovered the bodies of two insurgents along with weapons and ammunition, said Samarasinghe.

The incident happened late Sunday in Batticaloa district, which adjoins Ampara.

Also late Sunday, the military discovered two bombs in the northern towns of Vavuniya and Jaffna, Samarasinghe said.

The rebels have been fighting for over 20 years for a separate homeland for the country's 3.1 million minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

The military has stepped up efforts to flush the rebels from eastern Sri Lanka, where the insurgents are at their weakest since a top commander broke away in 2004 with an estimated 6,000 fighters.

Although both sides claim to be adhering to a Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire, violence has escalated since late 2005, with over 3,600 people killed last year alone. Discuss this story Published: Mon Jan 15 08:56:50 EST 2007