3 senior LTTE leaders killed: Sri Lanka army

Colombo, May 18 (ANI): The Sri Lanka army has claimed to have killed three senior Tamil Tiger leaders, as its fight against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam continued in the northern part of Sri Lanka on Monday.

Sri Lanka's government said troops were engaged in "final brushing up" hours after a website linked to the rebels said the Tigers were laying down arms.

The three dead were stated to include the head of the Tigers' political wing, Balasingham Nadesan. But there was no word on LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, stated a BBC report on Monday.

However, the Sri Lankan army has claimed to have found the body of his son, Charles Anthony.

Sri Lankan army says that the last LTTE (Tamil Tiger) fighters have been penned in a 1.5 square kilometre patch of jungle.

The military says that the head of rebels' peace secretariat Seevaratnam Puleedevan and military leader called Ramesh were the other two killed and that their bodies had been recovered.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) ministers are expected on Monday to call for a probe into claims civilians have been targeted.

The inquiry calls come as the final act appears to be being played out in a long and bitter 26-year civil war which has left some 70,000 people dead. (ANI)