The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Colombo

Sri Lanka may be close to a military victory over Tamil Tiger separatists, but the rebels could still wage a protracted low-intensity insurgency with hidden resources, a senior foreign ministry official said.

"Defeating the LTTE might not be the end of the story because an organisation like this might still have some resources hidden away," Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona told Reuters in an interview.

"This might continue to be a problem for us."

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which the United States classifies as a terrorist group, is fighting to create an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils in north and east Sri Lanka. One of the deadliest contemporary civil wars, it has killed more than 70,000 people in a quarter of a century of fighting.

Often credited with perfecting the modern suicide bomb attack, the LTTE has conventional military capability as well, including a rag-tag air force and a navy with considerable firepower.

Kohona's comments came amid increasing signs the military was gaining an upper hand with near-daily land, sea and air attacks, as part of a strategy to gradually retake the Tigers' northern stronghold.

Analysts say the military had an advantage in the latest phase of the war given its superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east. But they still see no clear winner on the horizon.

Sri Lanka's army commander, Sanath Fonseka, said last month the LTTE would lose all its territory in less than a year.

But Kohona warned it could still carry on a protracted hit-and-run insurgency with military hardware such as explosives-strapped speedboats and small arms saved from its present armed campaign.

"So the way we are trying to resolve this problem is t by a combination of military and political means," he said, hoping the Tigers would follow the example of a break-away rebel group that fought elections held after two decades in the east. "Hopefully it also sends a message to the (rebel-held) north that simply because you spent the better part of your life as a ruthless killer doesn't mean you have to do so for the rest of your life."