Sri Lanka says all civilians out of war zone, rebels declare ceasefire

Colombo: Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka's northern war zone have declared a ceasefire, a rebel spokesman said on Sunday.

The rebels have given up their fight and "decided to silence our guns", rebel spokesman Selvarasa Pathmanathan said.

"This battle has reached its bitter end," Pathmanathan said in a statement on Tamilnet.

The last remaining civilians trapped by fighting in northern Sri Lanka poured across the front lines on Sunday amid clashes between rebels and government troops, the military said.

"We're relieved to hear that all civilians have come out of the combat zone," said UN spokesman Gordon Weiss. Nearly 250,000 civilians have fled the fighting in recent months.

Troops on Sunday killed at least 70 rebels trying to escape the one-square kilometre patch of land that government troops have surrounded, the military said.

However, the Tamil Tigers' top commanders remained at large. The military said the rebel leadership was likely still in the conflict zone and was planning a mass suicide.

Thousands of Sri Lankans poured into the streets Sunday morning, dancing and setting off celebratory fireworks, after President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared victory in the country's civil war with the separatist rebels.