1,00,000 civilians still held hostage in Sri Lanka as heavy firing continue after ceasefire

Government forces say they are close to crushing the 25-year separatist war after a string of battlefield victories trapped the rebels into a small strip of land in the Indian Ocean island's north.

The U.N. says that more than 100,000 people are trapped along with the cornered guerrillas in a government-declared "no-fire" zone measuring just 7.7 square miles (20 square kilometers). It has said scores of civilians have been killed in the fighting. The rebels and rights groups have accused the military of firing into the safe zone, a charge the military denies.

The military said the rebels may be preventing people from fleeing. The government and aid groups have in the past accused the rebels of holding civilians as human shields _ an allegation the Tamil Tigers have denied.

Sri Lanka's government dropped Norway as a mediator, accusing Oslo of failing to protect its mission there from Tamil protesters. Sri Lankan Tamil expatriates have taken to the streets in European capitals over the past months to protest the military offensives and to demand a cease-fire.

Angered by the attacks on its embassy in Oslo, Sri Lanka's foreign ministry summoned Norwegian Ambassador Tore Hattrem and told him it was "no longer feasible for Norway to act as facilitator in the peace process,"

The announcement was unlikely to make any difference on the ground because a 2002 Norway-brokered peace process had already collapsed and Colombo formally withdrew from a formal cease-fire last year.

The Norwegian Embassy in Colombo said Oslo police regretted they did not have enough personnel to protect the embassy.

The Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, who have faced decades of marginalization by successive governments controlled by ethnic Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.