Lankan rebels encircled in fierce fighting

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COLOMBO, April 2 (AP): Sri Lankan troops have surrounded dozens of Tamil Tiger separatist rebels during fierce fighting in the island's north in a drive to end a 25-year civil war, the military said Thursday.
The rebels - who once commanded a de facto state across a large swath of the island's north and east - have been pushed into a small sliver of coastal land measuring just 21 square kilometres, on the northeast coast.
In the latest fighting, the military said government troops had surrounded a group of rebels in an area less than a square kilometre.
A statement on the defence ministry's Website also said its forces had cut a supply route to the rebels in the Puthkkudiyirippu area.