The Sunday Times said army commander Lt Gen Rohan Daluwatte was expected to name the ``top level'' inquiry this week to ascertain how the army complex in the northern Killinochchi town was lost to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

It would also assess the loss of military hardware in the massive rebel attack, the report said.

Stating that the casualty figures in the attack were ``much higher'' the officially stated 632 killed and 400 wounded, it said, ``however, casualty figures forwarded by the Sunday Times for scrutiny of the army censor have all been deleted.''

The report appeared with the ``censored'' label at several places in the text.

The report said the Killinochchi debacle was worse than the one at Mullaithivu two years ago, when the Tamil Tigers overran a military base, killing over 1,200troopers.While playing down the Killinochchi incident, the recapture of the rebel-held Mankulam town by the troops was given wide publicity over the state media, it said.

Blasting the censorship of the media, it noted that there was censorship when the Mullaithivu base was overrun, too, with the difference that the foreign media were exempted then.

``This week we have witnessed the hideous spectacle of government leaders and the state media lying through their very teeth regarding the intense battles that are being fought in the north,'' it said in an editorial.``The censorship on the media was supposedly intended to prevent the divulging of military secrets to the enemy. So said the government.''``What it was meant to do was to prevent the people from knowing the actual figures of death-toll and of those injured in battle and also of the military setbacks suffered by the Sri Lankan forces,'' the report said.

It also castigated the administration as a ``government in exile'' and said PresidentChandrika Kumaratunga and many of her ministers were abroad when battles raged in the north.

``It is almost unbelievable that the president, who is the defence minister and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces was not in Sri Lanka when this massive operation was taking place,'' it said.

Kumaratunga, in a message issued from London, praised the ``brave soldiers'' for capturing the rebel stronghold of Mankulam, 30 km south of Killinochchi.``Our brave soldiers have captured Mankulam, the last bastion of the LTTE. I wish to share the joy of this historic victory with my fellow countrymen and our brave soldiers who are now jubilant over their achievement,'' she said.In a reference to the loss of soldiers, she observed that war was cruel and destructive. ``Lives will have to be sacrificed.''

``There are certain forces that are conspiring to hide this reality and make political ends on the loss of lives of the soldiers,'' she said.She said her government was still committed to arrive at a politicalsolution to the ethnic conflict.

``Our war is only to put down LTTE terrorism,'' she said and asserted that the capture of Mankulam by the forces would ``contribute more towards accelerating the peace process.''