Keheliya Rambukwella, the government's defense spokesman and minister of Foreign Employment told reporters that several organizations who are part of this sinister campaign have been identified.

These groups have got activated when government troops are on the verge of completely crushing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"This campaign against terrorism will not be stopped due to any pressure. We will not negotiate with terrorists," Rambukwella said.

However, he said LTTE rebels are free to lay down arms and surrender to the government.

The spokesman stressed that stern actions would be taken against any organization who is attempting to distort the truth.

He blamed an international More... Published: Fri Feb 6 18:32:55 EST 2009

The military said it chalked up more victories on the ground, capturing the headquarters of a Tamil Tiger regiment responsible for the security of their top leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, on Friday.

``Troops surrounded the area so fast that the (fleeing) terrorists couldn't even take their flag,'' military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

The military's relentless offensive in recent months has almost routed the Tamil Tigers, virtually ending their 25-year war for a separate Tamil nation in the Sinhalese-majority country.

Nanayakkara said about 600 civilians fled the war zone Friday, joining thousands who have escaped in the past few days. The government says it is not targeting civilians, and accuses the rebels of using them as human shields.

But evidence has grown in recent days of mounting civilian casualties in the shrinking sliver of land still controlled by the rebels.

Reports from the sealed war zone, known as Vanni, are spotty. But the top health official there said last week that 300 civilians had been killed, and the U.N. said at least 52 civilians were killed Tuesday.

Amnesty International called on both sides to declare a cease-fire to allow civilians out and to let food, water and medical supplies be delivered to those who can't leave.

``A quarter of a million people are suffering without adequate food and shelter while shells rain down upon them,'' said Yolanda Foster, a researcher at the London-based rights group.

Emilia Casella, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, told reporters in Geneva that the entire population of Vanni is facing a food crisis.

Some 250,000 people there are completely dependent on humanitarian aid, but WFP has not been able to get a supply convoy into the conflict zone since Jan. 16, she said.

A convoy that was supposed to enter during a four-hour ``humanitarian window'' Thursday could not go because the agency did not receive the necessary clearance from government officials, she said.

The earliest they would be able to send in another convoy is next Thursday, she said.

``We don't have any more stocks to be distributed, and our staff are essentially hiding at the moment,'' Casella said. WFP has 16 staff members and 81 dependents in the Vanni area.

Despite growing concerns over the fate of civilians, the government has rejected calls for a cease-fire to allow them to escape the fighting.

On Thursday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa assured U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a 15-minute telephone conversation that the offensive ``would be carried out without harassment to the civilian population,'' a statement from the president's office said.

Some 70,000 people have died in the Tamil conflict, which began in 1983 after years of marginalization of the Tamil minority by governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority.

Associated Press writer Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report. Published: Fri Feb 6 13:07:40 EST 2009

Sri Lankan forces captured the insurgents' biggest sea base Thursday cutting off their main supply point in the latest in a string of military victories that has squeezed the Tamil Tigers into a 30-square-mile (85-square-kilometer) sliver of coastal land.

Even before the base was taken, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake told Parliament that the ``last moment'' of the rebels' 25-year-old fight for a separate Tamil homeland was near.

More than 70,000 people have died in the conflict, and hundreds of civilians are reported to have been killed in the most recent round of fighting.

``Our forces have now surrounded the last stronghold of the terrorists. Our troops are challenging the Tigers waiting in front of their den,'' Wickremanayake told Parliament.

``The last moment of Tigers will be painful as well as decisive,'' he said.

The statement effectively rejected a call by the U.S., Britain and Canada for both sides to cease fire to allow civilians and the wounded to leave the area.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said 1,282 civilians crossed over from the rebel area to government land on Wednesday and Thursday. But the United Nations and other aid agencies have said some 250,000 civilians are trapped in the war zone.

In another victory, troops overran the insurgents' sea base in Chalai, Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, told The Associated Press.

Nanayakkara said the rebels still retain some capability to launch naval suicide missions from small bases along the coast. But for now, the rebels are fighting a last-gasp battle for survival, bearing the brunt of a daily barrage of artillery.

The seizure cuts off their main supply point as Chalai was used to receive arms and fuel from other countries through a widespread smuggling network.

On Wednesday, more than 300 patients took refuge in a makeshift hospital after fleeing the war zone's last medical facility in Puthukkudiyiruppu, which was struck by artillery shells for days.

Accompanied by 18 staff members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, they made their way to a community center in Puttumatalan, an area that lacks clean drinking water, the Red Cross said in a statement.

``We have grave concerns for the well-being and safety of those who fled,'' said Paul Castella, head of the ICRC's Colombo delegation.

The government bars journalists from traveling to the area, making it impossible to obtain firsthand information. However, photographs and video of the wounded and dead, given to The Associated Press by independent observers, substantiate the reports coming out of the area.

The government says the army does not fire at civilian populations and is not responsible for any civilian casualties. However, it accuses the Tamil Tigers of using civilians as human shields, a charge the insurgents deny.

Wickremanayake said the Tamil Tigers are now looking for ways to escape by mingling with the civilians, adding that troops are now searching the jungles for the Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

Associated Press writers Vijay Joshi and Krishan Francis in Colombo contributed to this report.Discuss this story Published: Thu Feb 5 09:42:37 EST 2009