As thousands of trapped civilians continued to flee the war zone, Sri Lankan government on Friday said the LTTE would be stamped out within the next 48 hours, signaling that a final offensive against the Tiger was on. "President Mahinda Rajapaksa has vowed that within the next 48 hours, thousands of Tamil civilians will be freed from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers,"a government spokesman said. He said the President has also assured "all territory would be freed from the Tamil Tigers' control". Rajapaksa's comments came as on the battle-front Sri Lankan forces pushed back the Tigers confining them to 1.5 sq km area by last night.