Besieged Tamil Tiger chief vows to evict Sri Lanka forces

The leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, vowed in a radio broadcast Thursday to fight on and evict government forces closing in on his de facto political capital.

Prabhakaran delivered his annual "Heroes' Week" speech over his Voice of Tigers radio and the Internet, despite an air raid on two rebel communication towers minutes before he went on air.

"Whatever challenges confront us, whatever contingencies we encounter, whatever forces stand in our path, we will still continue with our struggle for the freedom of the Tamil people," he said.

"We will continue with our struggle until the alien Sinhala occupation of our land is evicted," he said, referring to the island's ethnic Sinhalese majority which dominates the government and security forces.

He said government forces were seeking to destroy the minority Tamil community and asked his followers abroad to contribute generously to his war effort.

"It (the government) seeks to destroy Tamil sovereignty and replace it with Sinhala (majority) sovereignty. As the freedom movement of the people of Tamil Eelam we will never, ever allow Sinhala occupation or Sinhala domination of our homeland," he said.

The Tiger supremo, who turned 54 on Wednesday, had cancelled all celebrations because of ongoing heavy fighting around the town of Kilinochchi, the political capital of his Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

He said the war had been thrust on his group.

"The Sinhala nation is conducting a major war of genocide against us in our land, news about which is denied to the outside world," he said. "No sane voice is being raised either to abandon war or to seek peaceful resolution to the conflict."

He said ethnic Sinhalese politicians, spiritual leaders, journalists and ordinary people had raised their voice "only in support of the war."

He accused the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse of laying down "unacceptable conditions" to resume peace negotiations.

The president, who pulled out of a Norwegian-backed truce in January, has said he will not accept anything short of a surrender by the LTTE.

Prabhakaran's speech is the culmination of a week of ceremonies commemorating the 22,000 Tamil fighters who have perished in the LTTE's campaign for a separate state.

With his northern fiefdom shrinking rapidly in the face of a massive onslaught, Prabhakaran asked for increased international support for his cause.

"I invite those countries that have banned us, to understand the deep aspirations and friendly overtures of our people, to remove their ban on us and to recognise our just struggle," he said.

The United States, India, European Union member states and several others have either completely banned the LTTE as foreign terrorists or shut down Tiger activities on their soil.

The last 18 months have been disastrous for the LTTE, who want to carve out an ethnic homeland in the north and east of the Sinhalese-majority island of Sri Lanka.

Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kilinochchi on Thursday despite monsoon rains, military officials said, adding that troops were poised to breach new defences built by the rebels.

On Wednesday, the government said the fall of besieged Kilinochchi was imminent.

Reports of casualties have been sketchy and the defence ministry has stopped issuing daily updates on the losses suffered by both sides. The Tigers too have been irregular in disclosing details of fighting.

The battlezone is inaccessible to journalists and aid workers, meaning claims and counter-claims are impossible to verify independently.