Colombo, December 26 (IANS) Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Wednesday he wanted talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) but not before defeating them militarily.

"All must realize that military victories alone would pave the way for a political solution. It would be meaningless to talk about a political solution without pushing the LTTE into a corner and compelling them to go for a solution through a consensus," Rajapaksa said at a function to mark the third anniversary of the tsunami in Matara, in the deep south of Sri Lanka.

The president said he was calling upon the LTTE to come for talks. The on-going successful operations by the Sri Lankan armed forces would leave the Tigers with no option but to come for talks, he added.

The Sri Lankan forces had not only driven the LTTE from the eastern districts of the island but have been mounting pressure on the guerrillas in the northern districts of Vavuniya and Mannar also.

The president had earlier this month said there would be no peace until the LTTE was militarily defeated. His brother and Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, said late last month that the Sri Lankan armed forces would eliminate the LTTE's leaders one by one.

The LTTE's political leader, S.P. Tamilselvan, was killed in an air raid Nov 2. The government claimed Dec 19 the Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was injured in an air raid on the Jayanthinagar bunkers in Kilinochchi Nov 26.

For its part, the Sri Lankan Navy has been destroying the sea going assets of the LTTE, including a number of large ships trying to smuggle weapons into Sri Lanka.