Associated Press Writer

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ Troops have captured three Tamil Tiger rebel bases in northeastern Sri Lanka, forcing the insurgents to flee into the jungles, the Defense Ministry said Saturday.

``The military had to carry out the operation as the terrorists were targeting our camps in the area and risking supply lines,'' said military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe.

``During the past 72 hours the army, supported by artillery and mortars, successfully neutralized the three LTTE bases,'' Samarasinghe said, using the acronym for the Tigers' official name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The area is near the port city of Trincomalee, which has a major Sri Lankan navy base and serves as an important supply line to the north.

No casualties were reported, as the rebels had fled before the troops moved in. Soldiers recovered a large number of roadside bombs, anti-personnel mines, rocket propelled grenades, assault rifles, mortars and large quantities of ammunition.

``Search operations and the consolidation of positions by the army are still continuing,'' Samarasinghe said.

The rebels could not immediately be reached for comment.

But the Tamil National Alliance, seen as a proxy party of the rebels in the Parliament, said Sri Lanka's military campaign leaves Tamils with no option but to go for ``self-determination and self-rule.''

``In the face of the Sri Lankan state's insistence on pursuing a military solution to the Tamil National question, the Tamil people are appealing to the international community to recognize their struggle for self determination and self-rule,'' the TNA said in a statement.

Violence has occurred almost daily since December 2005, and a Norway-backed cease-fire signed in 2002 exists only on paper.

European cease-fire monitors said Friday that nearly 4,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka over the past 15 months _ compared to 130 deaths in the previous three years.

Violence has escalated since Mahinda Rajapakse became president and moderate Ranil Wickremesinghe, who signed the truce with the rebels, left the government.

The separatist Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.1 million ethnic Tamils in the north and northeast, following decades of discrimination by the country's majority Sinhalese.

About 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before the cease-fire. Discuss this story Published: Sat Feb 24 00:32:40 EST 2007

Erick Wotulo, 59, conspired last year to export weapons and other military technology to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, also known as the Tamil Tigers, operating in Sri Lanka, according to the plea agreement.

The state-of-the-art firearms, machine guns and ammunition, surface-to-air missiles and night-vision goggles were to be used against Sri Lankan government forces.

The conspirators contacted an undercover business in Maryland about the sale of military weapons. Wotulo helped acquire and arrange the proposed delivery to the Tamil Tigers, the plea agreement said.

Wotulo was arrested in September in Guam, where he had traveled to meet other conspirators and undercover agents posing as arms merchants.

Wotulo faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison for conspiracy to provide material support and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for money laundering at his sentencing, scheduled for May 25.Discuss this story Published: Fri Feb 23 22:39:47 EST 2007