Aggressive Sri Lankan government forces continue to push deeper into the Tamil Tiger heartland and are now within reach of their administrative capital, raising hopes that the end of a brutal 25-year civil war may be near, said The Scotsman, a UK based website.

The military campaign has benefited from an international crackdown on the Tigers' fundraising and smuggling networks, and high-level defections that have undermined grassroots Tamil support for its iron-willed chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Since January, when it scrap- ped a Norway-brokered ceasefire and vowed to crush the Tigers by the end of the year, the government has poured some £821 million into an all-out, multiple-front offensive that has killed about 6,000 rebels and reduced their last stronghold in the island's northern Wanni region by nearly 75 per cent, according to the Ministry of Defence.

It said fewer than 600 troops have died during the period, the website quoted.

Clashes have intensified as the army moves to cut off a vital sea smuggling route from India, while thrusting into the eastern flank in an effort to surround Kilinochchi.