Sri Lanka Navy said in Colombo Wednesday that they had killed at least 25 Tamil Tiger rebels while destroying six boats in a pre-dawn attack.

Navy spokesman Capt DKP Dassanayake said the Navy had observed some six boats of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels at 4 a.m. local time (2230 GMT) off the northeastern coast of Mullaithivu

At least four of them on a suicide mission were to attack the Sri Lanka Army ground troops who are on the last stages of crushing the LTTE's armed campaign.

Troops say they are now in the last hideout of the rebels in the Mullaithivu district's narrow coastal strip of Puttumatalan.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2009)