Colombo - The president of Sri Lanka declared on Saturday that the island's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have been "defeated militarily" after decades of bitter ethnic bloodshed.
Defence officials said the massive offensive against the rebel army was all but complete, with the entire island under government control for the first time in years but for a minuscule pocket of jungle.
They said the remnants of the once formidable rebel force "were preparing for a mass suicide after being effectively cut-off of escape routes, both land and sea" by a morning coastal pincer movement by the army.
"I am proud to announce... that my government, with the total commitment of our armed forces, has in an unprecedented humanitarian operation finally defeated the LTTE militarily," President Mahinda Rajapakse said in a speech in Jordan.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been fighting for an independent homeland on the ethnic Sinhalese-majority island since the 1970s.
Rajapakse said he would be returning to "a country that has been totally freed from the barbaric acts of the LTTE."
Defence officials reported that sporadic fighting was still in progress in a coastal area in the northeast, but only with small pockets of die-hard rebel fighters.
"Their only way out is to surrender to the security forces or to be crushed," the defence ministry said, adding it also believed the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was still holed up in the area.
But the Sri Lankan government's moment of triumph was overshadowed by fresh warnings over how it has conducted an offensive that has also left thousands of civilians dead.
"Sri Lanka must understand that there will be consequences for its actions," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement.
"The humanitarian agencies must be granted access to civilians caught in the crossfire of a dreadful conflict. We are backing UN efforts to secure an orderly end to the conflict. The LTTE must lay down its arms and allow civilians to leave."
European Union foreign ministers also said they were "appalled by continuing reports of high numbers of civilian casualties."
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, was heading to the island in a fresh peace effort.
He was expected to reach Colombo late on Saturday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, the only neutral organisation working in the north-east, earlier in the week described the situation as "an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe."
The UN's human rights office has said an independent probe into possible war crimes in Sri Lanka was vital.
The island's government, however, has barred diplomats, independent journalists and most aid workers from the conflict area.
The Tigers controlled nearly a third of the island only two years ago, operating an effectively autonomous Tamil state.
Their defeat is unlikely to end Sri Lanka's ethnic problem, with Tamil fighters vowing to return to the guerrilla hit-and-run tactics that they have used to devastating effect in the past.
"An onslaught by the government will only result in thousands more dying and will not pave a way for a dignified and respectful outcome," the LTTE's head of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, was quoted as saying by the pro-rebel Tamilnet website. - AFP