Senior rebel leaders fail to prevent Sri Lankan troops' advance

COLOMBO, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's defense officials said Sunday that Tamil Tiger rebels had thrown their senior leaders to the front line to prevent the military forward march but this can not stop the advance of the troops.

"The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) had its senior leaders Soosai, Vidusha and Bhanu to prevent the Army from going forward in Puthukudyiruppu, but they had to give up," Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told the private radio station of Gold FM.

Nanayakkara said the Army's 58 and 53 divisions and a Task Force have encircled the last rebel hold in three different directions and the rebels are currently left with very little options.

All of LTTE senior leaders are believed to be trapped in Puthukudyiruppu, the last rebel stronghold after they lost most of the territory to the advancing Army.

The LATTE has also come under criticism internationally for their holding of a large civilian population as a human shield in the current military clashes.

The Sri Lankan government has called on the international community to urge the rebels to free some 70,000 civilians trapped in the battle zones.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has ferried the injured civilians from the battle zone to the eastern port of Trincomalee.

The government says over 35,000 civilians have already left the rebel clutches.

The LTTE has been fighting since the mid-1980s to set up a separate homeland for the minority Tamil community in the island's north and east, claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhalese majority ruling community.