The last days of Sri Lanka's long war

Sri Lanka earlier in the week promised to stop using heavy weapons in its fight to finish off the rebels and to concentrate its military efforts on freeing the civilians, but both sides report continued fighting and casualties.Here are questions and answers about what happens next on the Indian Ocean island:

This is all but certain to be the last conventional battle in a war that has raged off and on since 1983. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) control less than 10 square km (4 square miles) of coconut groves along the coast. The area is surrounded by water on three sides, and troops on the fourth. If the government follows its announced strategy, fighting will now be close-quarters as troops pick their way across what satellite images show to be a sea of makeshift tent.

Military officers, speaking privately, say the advance has been slowed by fields of land mines and LTTE snipers, although on Wednesday a government spokesman said the Tiger-held area had been reduced to five km.

The army has been deploying snipers, commandos and special forces troops alongside infantrymen. The Tigers say the government has kept using heavy weapons, killing scores of civilians. The military denies that, while saying it continues to inflict significant casualties among the Tiger fighters.