Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanyakkara said the fiercest battles took place in Kilinochchi district in the north.

He said airstrikes had been launched against rebel gathering points.

But a pro-rebel website Tamilnet said the bombs hit civilian targets, killing one person and injuring eight, four of them children.

Brigadier Nanayakkara said that he could gurantee that there were no civilians in the areas where security forces have launched operations

He said the air force only bombed LTTE defence lines and never target civilians in their attacks.

Brigadier Nanayakkara said that air firce fighter jets bombed a rebel base used to train black tiger women suicide bombers

The Sri Lankan Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, told the BBC he was confident the government was on the verge of victory.

The rebels have fought for more autonomy in the north-east for more than twenty-five years.