their battle has reached "its bitter end." President Mahinda Rajapaksa returned to Sri Lanka from a visit to Jordan, where earlier he had declared victory. |

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

TheSri Lankan army has been leading what it called a "final push" against TamilTiger rebels. A military spokesman told VOA that the army hoped to free allcivilians trapped in rebel territory by Sunday. The military said troops were movingin from the north and the south on the narrow area of coastline still held bythe rebels.

Children as young as 12 are being given guns and forced to fight on the frontline alongside desperate Tamil Tiger rebels cornered inside Sri Lanka's no-fire zone, the UN said today.

Those forcibly recruited included the 16-year-old daughter of a member of the UN staff, who had stayed inside the narrow strip of coast where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are making their last stand.

Gordon Weiss, the UN spokesman in Sri Lanka, said there had been credible reports of clashes between LTTE members and families on the beaches who had tried to prevent their children being taken. Some of those who resisted had been beaten or shot, he said.