April 27 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka rejected a cease-fire call by Tamil Tiger rebels as a “joke” as Tamils said the army must stop killing civilians trapped in the last rebel-held territory in the north.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam must surrender and allow civilians to leave the conflict zone, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said yesterday, according to a statement on the government’s Web site.

“What is the need for a cease-fire when they are running away?” Rajapaksa said. The “consistent demand” of the government is for the LTTE to lay down its arms and release civilian hostages, he said.

Sri Lanka says it is on the brink of ending a 26-year conflict with the LTTE, which is fighting for a separate Tamil homeland in the South Asian island nation. Civilians in the government-declared security zone where the Tamil Tigers are holding out came under fire from the army early today, according to TamilNet, a Web site that gives reports from the Tamil perspective.

The United Nations humanitarian envoy is in Sri Lanka and the U.K., France and Sweden plan to send their foreign ministers in two days time.

As many as 180,000 civilians have fled into government-held areas to escape the fighting in the north since the army drove the LTTE from its main bases. The LTTE failed to let civilians go when the government halted the fighting on two occasions, the last time two weeks ago, Rajapaksa said.

LTTE Hideout

Soldiers are closing in on the last LTTE hideout near the port of Mullaitivu, the army said yesterday, adding its operations are focusing on rescuing civilians.

About 500 Tamil Tigers, including their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, are in a government-declared safe zone for civilians, Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said yesterday from the capital, Colombo.

The LTTE said yesterday it was halting all military operations “in the face of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.” The plight of civilians “can only be overcome by the declaration of an immediate cease-fire,” it said in an e-mailed statement.

The Tamils Rehabilitation Organization late yesterday appealed to the international community to prevent a final offensive against Tamil Tiger forces holding out in a strip of land on the northeast coast.

The international community must act to stop the “slaughter” of civilians, the TRO said in an e-mailed statement.

Open Letter

The group made its appeal in an open letter to leaders including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. President Barack Obama, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

“As we write this appeal, there is a buildup of Sri Lankan armed forces in the areas surrounding the so-called safe zone and an offensive via land, sea and air is only a few hours away,” Lawrence Christy, the head of the TRO’s field office, said in the statement.

The U.S. froze the assets of the TRO last November, saying it acts as a front and raises funds for the LTTE, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S, the European Union and India.

UN Envoy

The UN estimates that as many as 50,000 people are in the conflict zone. John Holmes, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who is in Sri Lanka, will press the government to “exercise maximum restraint” in the security zone and to allow aid teams into the region, the UN said on its Web site.

Holmes also called on the LTTE to let civilians out of the area, it said.

The U.K. yesterday renewed its call for a cease-fire, when Brown telephoned Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the prime minister’s office in London said.

U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and Swedish counterpart Carl Bildt will visit Sri Lanka on April 29, according to an e-mailed statement.

The Obama administration last week called on the government “to stop shelling the safe zone and blocking international aid groups and media from accessing those civilians who have managed to escape,” according to a statement issued by the White House.

Tamil Nadu

Sri Lanka’s conflict is dominating campaigning in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu before voting May 13 as part of the country’s general elections.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi demanded an immediate cease-fire and began a hunger strike, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported today. His main rival in the election, J. Jayalalitha, said earlier the only solution for the ethnic conflict is a separate homeland for Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority.

About 73,000 Sri Lankan refugees, mostly Tamils, are living in Tamil Nadu to escape the fighting. Karunanidhi’s party, Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, was a partner in India’s federal coalition government.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan met with the Sri Lankan president last week in Colombo seeking an immediate end to the fighting.

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 27, 2009 00:35 EDT