Colombo, Sri Lanka: December 31, 2007 -  There are strong rumors that V. Prabhakaran,the leader of the country's Tamil Tiger rebels was hit and is gravely ill and is likely to die within within six months at the most. Keeping this tense situation in view, the Sri Lankan military aims to kill 10 rebels a day.

Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka was quoted by the state-run weekend paper Sunday Observer as saying the security forces have occupied Tamil Tiger forward defence lines and surrounded the northern rebel held Wanni rebel base, as per agency report.

"The LTTE could not prevent losing their remaining 3,000 cadres and there is no assurance that the LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran would survive for the next six months as the Sri Lanka Air Force plans to attack all the LTTE bases," Fonseka said.

The full name for the rebels is Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
"Our daily target is to kill at least 10 LTTE terrorists and for the last few months over 500 LTTE ... have been killed by the armed forces," Fonseka said.

"We have weakened the LTTE by 50 percent or more and we are confident we can go that extra mile in the coming year."

Fonseka's comments came a day after the defence secretary called for an official end to a ceasefire between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels, saying the agreement had been violated so many times it had become a sham, as per Reuters.