Sri Lankan troops moved further into LTTE areas destroying bunkers to capture Kilinochchi, the de facto political capital of Tamil Tigers, as Air Force helicopters bombed the rebel targets, officials said on Sunday.

Sri Lanka's air force carried out a series of attacks against Tamil Tiger rebels, including a heavy gun position and a guerrilla training camp, the military said on Saturday.

At least 2,239 Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed in the past 11 months of fighting against the Sri Lankan troops, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has said.

India has no intention of lifting the ban on Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, official sources said on Friday.

Tamil Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran urged India on Thursday to lift the ban on his group even as he pledged to continue his war against Sri Lanka "till alien Sinhala occupation of our land is removed".

Sri Lanka said on Wednesday that its troops were on the verge of overrunning Kilinochchi, the tamil tigers' political and administrative capital with its forces reported to be almost on city outskirts.

Terming the army offensive against LTTE as a "humanitarian mission," Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ruled out any halt in operations against the Tamil Tigers till they give up their "terrorist activities" and come to the negotiating table.

The reclusive leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers is to deliver his annual policy address this week from a besieged jungle hideout that could soon be totally overrun by government troops.

Sri Lankan army's attempt to broaden the offensive arc on the Tiger stronghold of Kilinochchi received a setback when a push to capture the major town of Nalloor was beaten back by LTTE cadres, who claimed to have killed 43 soldiers.

Helicopter gunships attacked Tamil Tiger rebel positions in northern Sri Lanka as ground troops on Sunday moved closer to the rebels' political capital from three fronts, the defence ministry said.

Close on the heels of capturing LTTE stronghold of Pooneryn that opened the land-route to Jaffna, which was blocked for over 20 years, Sri Lanka has ordered a renovation of the highway on a war footing.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayaka has said the government may ban the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam even before the people ask for it.

Sri Lanka's navy traded fire with a flotilla of Tamil rebel boats off the island's northeastern coast on Tuesday, a day after ground troops captured three guerrilla-held towns, defence officials said.

Making a major breakthrough, Sri Lankan troops on Saturday captured the strategic northern town of Pooneryn, to open after 20 years the land-link to Tamil heartland of Jaffna and a buoyant President Mahinda Rajapaksa asked the LTTE to surrender and come for talks.

Fierce battles raged near the Tamil Tiger stronghold of Kilinochchi in conflict-ravaged northern Sri Lanka, killing at least 11 guerrillas, as troops captured a key town west of the rebel 'capital'.

Two Sri Lankan Tamil MPs sympathetic to the Tamil Tigers are in the capital to meet political leaders as part of their efforts to bring about a ceasefire in their country.

Sri Lankan troops on Monday captured a strategic area in the LTTE stronghold of Kilinochchi while losing some troops in another offensive near Jaffna peninsula in the restive north, as it rejected the Tiger's ceasefire offer saying it should first lay down arms.

The Sri Lankan army on Sunday pounded LTTE bunkers and inflicted heavy damages on Tiger bases in the restive north as it made further inroads to capture strategic areas in rebel-stronghold of Kilinochchi, officials said today.

At least seven LTTE cadres were killed in fierce clashes in embattled northern Sri Lanka where government helicopter gunships and fighter jets pounded rebel bases to support the advancing ground troops.

MDMK leaders Vaiko and M Kannappan, detained on October 21 for making speeches allegedly in support of the banned Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers, were released from judicial custody in Chennai on Thursday.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Thursday unveiled 2009 budget that proposes to hike defence spending by nearly seven percent and asked the Tamil Tigers to surrender their weapons to avoid making the military do so.

A top US military official on Wednesday commended the Sri Lankan military for its recent successes against the Tamil Tigers, whom Washington has designated as a terrorist group.

Sri Lankan security forces have sealed most of north-west coast of Kilinochchi, an LTTE stronghold and killed a senior rebel leader amidst airstrikes on sea tiger bases in the restive north, the military said on Tuesday.

At least 29 LTTE militants, including 14 sea Tigers, were killed on Saturady in fierce clashes with the Sri Lankan Navy off the northern coast of the island nation during which six rebel boats were also destroyed, two of them by the fighter jets giving cover to the navy.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked his military strategists to keep pace with the challenges confronted by LTTE, which is known for using improvise conventional fighting tactics for greater impact.