``Our security forces are targeting the hiding places and safe houses,'' Wickramanayake told reporters yesterday, according to the Defense Ministry. ``They will not stop the relentless pursuit of terrorists.''

S.P. Thamilchelvan was killed along with five rebel officers in the Nov. 2 air strike near the northern city of Kilinochchi. Security has been stepped up for his funeral today, the military said.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for 24 years for a separate homeland on the South Asian island nation in a conflict that has killed more than 70,000 people, according to the ministry. The government rejects dividing the country and is offering to devolve power to some provinces.

The government doesn't want a new cease-fire although it is ready for unconditional talks with the LTTE, Wickramanayake said.

``It is not the government that left the negotiating table,'' the Defense Ministry cited him as saying. ``It is the LTTE which spurned the peace drive.''

Thamilchelvan's death has set alight a ``deep yearning for the goal'' of a separate homeland, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said in a Nov. 3 statement on the group's Web site.

Terrorist Group

The LTTE has an estimated 12,000-member land force and a 4,000-strong naval unit. The group, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union and India, also has an air wing which the military says consists of five propeller-driven aircraft.

Sri Lankan forces are attacking rebel-held territory in the north, after capturing Eastern Province in July. The fighting is the heaviest since a 2002 truce brokered by Norway.

The Tamil Tigers' last weapons-smuggling vessel was destroyed last month and the group's navy commander was killed in September, the Defense Ministry said at the time.

An Oct. 22 raid by the LTTE on an airbase destroyed eight aircraft and helicopters, the most serious assault on Sri Lankan forces by the Tamil Tigers since the loss of the eastern region.

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