Colombo  – Sri Lanka's Navy and Air Force jointly destroyed a cluster of Tamil rebel boats off the island's north-eastern coast on Tuesday morning, killing at least six rebels, military officials said.

Fighting broke out after the Sri Lanka Navy's elite Special Boat Squadron (SBS) confronted a cluster of sea tiger boats off Nayaru, more than 370 kilometres north-east of Colombo, shortly before dawn.

The navy destroyed two of the boats while the air force, which were called in to support the sailors, destroyed five of the boats fleeing the area.

Chennai, Nov 17 : The Communist Party of India (CPI) convened an ''All-Party Meeting'' in Chennai on Monday to decide their further course of action after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa''s statement in New Delhi on November 13 ruled out any possibility of a ceasefire till the rebels laid down their arms.

Participants at ''all-party meeting'' decided to mobilize people to mount pressure on the Central government to intervene in the ongoing conflict in Sri Lanka and to stop the war.

Colombo  – Government troops captured key rebel-held areas in northern Sri Lanka on Monday as security forces intensified ground and airstrikes after taking control of a strategic coastal town in the region, military officials said.

Troops controlled of a strategic junction on a main highway to the northern part of the country Monday and a coastal village in the north- eastern side of the country, the army said.

Coimbatore/Chennai, Nov 16 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi on Sunday reiterated his demand of ceasefire between the Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Sri Lanakan President Mahinda Rajapakse on November 13 in New Delhi ruled out any possibility of ceasefire till the rebels laid down their arms.

The Tigers say they are fighting to establish a separate homeland for Sri Lanka''s Tamil minority, which has complained of marginalisation by successive governments led by the Sinhalese majority since independence from Britain in 1948.

Colombo, Nov. 15 : Sri Lankan soldiers have entered the strategically important Tamil Tiger stronghold of Pooneryn, according to the ministry of defence.

The move follows months of fighting and the BBC quoted officials as saying pitched battles are still taking place in the area.

If the army succeeds in taking control, it will have access to the land route up the north-west coast to Jaffna.

Colombo  - President Mahinda Rajapaksa renewed his call for Tamil rebels to lay down weapons and enter the political mainstream after government troops captured a key coastal town in northern Sri Lanka Saturday.

"Our troops have made a significant victory. Even at this moment I call the LTTE (Tamil rebel) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran to surrender and come for negotiations," Rajapaksa said in a nationwide address after the army announced it had taken control of Pooneryn, 360 kilometres north of the capital.