Sri Lanka rejects Tigers' ceasefire, defense chief says

Sri Lanka's defense chief on Sunday dismissed the Tamil Tigers' declaration of a ceasefire as a "joke", and said the guerrillas must either surrender or be destroyed.

"That is a joke. They were not fighting with us, they were running from us. There is no need of a ceasefire. They must surrender. That is it," Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told Reuters in a telephone interview. (Reuters)