As Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakasa declared victory over the LTTE after a nearly three decade long civil war, the reports came that almost mythical LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has either been killed or has committed suicide.

The reports of Prabhakaran's death gained ground as rebel websites declared the LTTE's surrender after the Sri Lankan army captured the last remaining coastline under rebel control, and rescued all civilians from the war zone.

According to Tamil.net, an LTTE spokesman S Pathmanathan said the group has decided to "silence its guns" in order to protect Tamil civilians left in the area and appealed to the government to hold fire and enter peace talks.

But President Rajapaksa who was earlier meant to address the country on Sunday has now postponed his speech to Tuesday. That is perhaps an indication that the government is not fully confident of the reports of Prabhakaran's death in the absence of concrete proof.

In fact, the army says fierce fighting against the LTTE continues at close quarters, in the last square kilometer left.

Now that all civilians have crossed over to the government-controlled area, the Tamil Tigers have no option but to fight to the last bullet and to the last man. How long will the fight last , 12 hours, may be 24 hours, no one knows but it surely is in the very last stage.