Lankan troops find rebels' underwater hideout

"This 360-foot-long and 25-foot-wide structure, apparently compartmentalised into three sections, has been made of strong iron, and set on iron rails, like a railway carriage. In addition, a huge 300-foot-long underwater canal that leads to the high seas is connected to the metal structure," the army said on its website.

The work on the underwater hideout was still under progress when the rebels had to make a hurried exit from the Irattavaikkal area of Mullaitivu district just before the ground troops moved in, the report said.

The troops are still on the lookout for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, who is believed to be trapped in a small area in the northeastern part of the country.

Although the troops managed to kill a large number of LTTE's second-rung leaders in the latest offensives, the group's supremo, his intelligence chief Pottu Amman and the head of the sea Tiger wing, Soosai, remain elusive.

The LTTE's three-decade-old separatist war to create an independent homeland for the minority Tamils appears to end soon as the security forces have taken control of almost all the rebel-held areas.