Her husband, Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, was killed in April while hosting a marathon and celebration to mark the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year at the Kanthi playground, 18 miles outside Colombo.

He was about to wave a flag to start the race when a ball of fire rushed toward him, visible on television footage. K.A Karunarathne, a former top marathon runner, was among those killed, along with 13 others, in what the government called a suicide bomb attack.

``When I got the call, I didn't want to believe it. I kept calling people to confirm it,'' said his wife of 21 years, a doctor who heads the country's community health programs. ``I was still wishing he would come back for breakfast. Just like he had promised.''

Fernandopulle was the second minister to be killed last year. In January, the minister for nation-building, D.M. Dassanayake, died in a roadside blast in the same district.

Sri Lanka's Defense Ministry blamed Tamil Tiger rebels. The Tigers usually deny such attacks, but heavy fighting in the north at the time meant they could not be reached for comment.

The U.S. government has labeled the Tigers a terrorist organization. In 1991, a female Tiger suicide bomber assassinated the former Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, who was campaigning for re-election. He had backed an Indian peacekeeping force created by a 1987 accord. In Sri Lanka, the Tigers terrorized not only the Sinhalese, but also Tamils in communities they said they represented. The fighters would forcibly conscript people, including children.

The Sri Lankan government has also been accused of human rights abuses, including abductions and unsubstantiated arrests of Tamils, according to rights groups. The government disputes those claims. In recent days, the international community has been pressuring President Mahinda Rajapaksa to find a long-term political solution.

``The point we've made to the government is that once they occupy all the territory in the north, which should be a matter of weeks or less, that will not end the LTTE, because the LTTE still has a large number of guerrillas underground that will continue to rely on the support of the Tamil diaspora,'' said Robert Blake, the U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka - , in an interview in the capital.

Referring to the Tigers by the abbreviation for their formal name, he added: ``The LTTE also has a significant network of businesses outside Sri Lanka - that generate substantial income for the LTTE. So it will be very important for the government to come forward with a package of political proposals that will really ensure the Tamils of Sri Lanka - a position of dignity and respect, and give them some measure of local autonomy in the areas in which they predominate.''

Nanayakkara's family and Fernandopulle's are watching the news closely. They both know loss, and that's the same feeling no matter which side of the war a victim is on, they said.

``I really just want the war to end,'' said Fernandopulle, who added that she took comfort in the fact that the night before her husband died, the family had a big get-together to celebrate their daughter's grades.

She wants to be a doctor, like her mother. Her brother wants to be a lawyer, like his father. But their mother is very clear: Don't enter politics, she tells them. They say they will listen. Published: Sat Feb 7 14:53:19 EST 2009

More than 50,000 soldiers are converging on a tiny wedge of jungle in the Indian Ocean island's northeast to crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists and end one of Asia's longest-running wars.With rebel territory fast shrinking, the hunt is on for Tiger leaders including the elusive Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the man who founded the group that turned the suicide bomb into a weapon of war and landed on numerous international terrorism lists. More...Discuss this story Published: Sat Feb 7 04:22:42 EST 2009

Humanitarian groups have a different view. ``International humanitarian law sets out rules that have to be followed in conflict situations,'' said Sophie Romanens, a spokeswoman in Colombo with the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The Red Cross last week helped move 300 patients out of the last functioning hospital in the shrinking war zone after it was shelled repeatedly. At least 52 civilians were killed according to the U.N., which has maintained a small humanitarian presence. The military released its own figures, saying 1,180 civilians crossed over to government-controlled land Wednesday and Thursday and another 600 on Friday. The origin of the cluster bombs fired on the hospital in Puthukkudiyiruppu is a matter of dispute, although some people believe it probably came from government forces.

Patients are camped in a community center in Puttumatalan, about 4 miles away. ``If you're in critical condition, any distance is a long way,'' Romanens said. ``Many patients are outside. They've had to hang IV drips from the trees.''

The conflict has implications beyond Sri Lanka - 's borders.

For the West, a defeat of the Tigers would eliminate a global hotspot at a time when military and intelligence resources are stretched. It also potentially could end the activities of a group reportedly involved in credit card fraud, money laundering, organized crime, weapons proliferation, recruitment of child soldiers, ocean-borne piracy and drug trafficking to further their operation. The U.S. designated the LTTE a terrorist organization in 1997.

Regionally, China and Pakistan are maneuvering to strengthen their ties with Sri Lanka - , which India has long considered part of its sphere of influence.

China sees Sri Lanka - as a key link in its ``string-of-pearls strategy'' of maintaining strong relations with nations along its vital energy supply route from the Middle East, Manoharan said. And Pakistan has an interest in building ties with nations on India's periphery to counter its giant adversary, an objective China shares.

India itself also is walking a balancing act at home. It supports an end to the long-running conflict on its doorstep -- which has resulted in an estimated 70,000 deaths in 25 years. And it has strengthened its support for Sri Lanka - after the assassination of then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber in 1991.

But India also is wary of offending its own sizable Tamil population, particularly now when the government is depending on support from the government of Tamil-dominated Nadu state in the upcoming election in April. Protests against the war and the Sri Lankan government have been staged across the southern state following the self-immolation of a Tamil protester on January 29.

The government's best hope of winning the peace is to engineer a political settlement that brings Sri Lanka - 's disaffected Tamils back into the fold and gives them a share of power, analysts said.

Colombo has floated a ``Four D's'' plan -- demilitarization, democratization, development and devolution -- to achieve post-war reconciliation. But the temptation may be too great to lord it over the vanquished, given President Mahinda Rajapaksa's record of siding with the Sinhalese majority at the expense of the Tamils, some said.

Another concern is what happens to the nation's 200,000 soldiers -- a four-fold increase since 2000 -- once the fighting ends. The island's economy is not in a position to absorb so many young men easily, potentially creating a destabilizing political force.

The military prospects for the Tigers remain bleak, despite their history of defying long odds. ``They're quite desperate guys,'' said retired Colonel R Hariharan, who headed India's intelligence operation during the late 1980s when Indian Peacekeeping forces were deployed in Sri Lanka - . ``They have very little place to go.''

The pocket of land where they are trapped, as small as 30-square miles by some accounts, is sandy with limited vegetation and few places to hide. They also have lost much of their artillery in the fight, leaving them largely dependent on 81-mm mortars that limit them to opportunity targets.

The Tigers procure most of their weapons through arms dealers reportedly from Cambodia, Ukraine, Thailand and Myanmar and elsewhere. An FBI sting in 2006 led to the arrest of four men trying to procure anti-aircraft missiles, grenade launchers and AK-47 assault rifles on behalf of the Tigers, all of whom were convicted last month and await sentencing. A separate sting unearthed an attempt to bribe U.S. State Department officials to have the Tigers removed from the U.S. terrorist list. Published: Sat Feb 7 14:50:55 EST 2009