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Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa ruled out negotiations with the Tamil Tigers, saying the military would soon destroy the rebel group and end the country's long-running civil war.
Speaking to foreign journalists late Monday, Rajapaksa said the time for talks was over, the only option left for the rebels was to put down their arms and surrender.
"We can crush them, there is no question that we can't," he said.
After months of fighting to a near stalemate along the front lines of the civil war in the north, the military broke through in recent weeks, capturing large swaths of enemy territory and vastly reducing the size of the rebels' de facto state.
Rajapaksa said he was confident of imminent victory in the 25-year-old war with the rebels.
"I know they are getting weak," he said.
Meanwhile, Tamil Tiger rebels set off a powerful bomb inside a public bus in the centre of the Sri Lankan capital on Tuesday, wounding four people, the defence ministry said. Casualties were low because passengers had spotted a suspicious parcel and evacuated the bus.
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