COLOMBO - SRI Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse announced on Tuesday the 'complete defeat' of the Tamil Tiger rebels, saying the government now controlled 'every inch' of the island's territory.

'The writ of the state now runs across every inch of our territory,' Mr Rajapakse told parliament in a nationally televised address. 'We have completely defeated terrorism.' He stressed that the crushing of the Tamil Tigers was a victory for the entire nation and should not be seen as a defeat for the minority Tamil community.

One of the world's most sophisticated insurgencies, the Tamil Tigers and their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, were brought down on Monday by a string of fatal misjudgments and an unrelenting government onslaught aimed at crushing the rebellion at all costs.

A rebel spokesman overseas denied Prabhakaran had died. Sri Lankan authorities appeared in no doubt the 54-year-old Tamil Tiger chief was killed, although the defence ministry website said troops were still in the process of identifying his body.

The destruction of the rebels' conventional forces does not mean the threat is over. Insurgents hiding in the jungles of the east have emerged periodically to attack government forces and civilians, and the rebels had sleeper cells planted in Colombo and other towns.

'Now (there) is a historic opportunity, and hopefully things will change. But the demonstrable record so far is not particularly encouraging,' said Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, a political analyst and executive director of the Colombo-based Center for Policy Alternatives.

Prabhakaran and his deputies drove an armour-plated van accompanied by a bus filled with rebel fighters toward the tightening cordon, sparking a two-hour firefight, two military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

Troops eventually fired a rocket at the van, ending the battle, and pulled out Prabhakaran's body as well as those of Soosai, his naval commander, and Pottu Amman, his feared intelligence chief, the officials said. Prabhakaran's son, Charles Anthony, was also killed, along with 250 rebel fighters, the military said.

'We can announce very responsibly that we have liberated the whole country from terrorism,' army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said.

Gen Fonseka and the commanders of the other security forces formally informed Mr Rajapaksa in a televised ceremony on Monday evening. They were then promptly promoted. -- AP

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