COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka's prime minister rejected calls for a cease-fire Thursday from donor countries worried by reports of growing civilian casualties in the South Asian nation's civil war, instead demanding the Tamil Tiger rebels' unconditional surrender.
Sri Lankan forces captured the rebels' biggest sea base, effectively cutting off their supply point and pushing them to the brink of defeat.
"No force can stop this operation. Government forces have already achieved significant victories against the terrorists," Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake told Parliament.
He said the government will only accept an unconditional surrender by the Tamil Tigers, who are facing defeat after a fruitless 25-year war for a separate Tamil homeland.
"We are ready to accept anyone who will embrace democracy by giving up arms," he said.
Hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed in recent fighting in the Vanni region in the north, where government forces have squeezed the rebels -- and an estimated 250,000 trapped civilians -- into a rapidly shrinking 30-square-mile (85-square-kilometer) coastal war zone.
Overall, some 70,000 people have died over the years in the conflict, which began because of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese against the minority Tamils.
"Our forces have now surrounded the last stronghold of the terrorists," Wickremanayake said. "The last moment of Tigers will be painful as well as decisive."
His strong words effectively rejected a call Wednesday by the U.S., Britain and Canada for both sides to temporarily cease fire to allow civilians and the wounded to leave the area.
Sri Lanka barred nearly all aid groups from the war zone last year. It also does not allow journalists, making independent verification of the situation impossible.
But observers have given The Associated Press graphic evidence in the form of photographs and videos, showing civilians killed and maimed in artillery firing from both sides.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said 1,282 civilians crossed over from the rebel area to government land on Wednesday and Thursday.
The seizure of the insurgents' biggest sea base in Chalai on Thursday cuts off their main supply point, as it was used to receive arms and fuel from other countries through a widespread smuggling network.
Nanayakkara said troops also took total control of Vishwamadu, the second biggest town in the area. Mullaittivu, the biggest town, was taken last month.
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.
