Vellupillai Prabhakaran, founder-chief of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was reportedly killed in battle with the Sri Lankan army (SLA) on Monday. ``Sri Lanka is now free of the LTTE. We are one, united country,'' army chief Lieutenant-General Sarath Fonseka told .
Prabhakaran was last heard getting into an ambulance just outside the former no-fire zone, while hardcore LTTE cadres were still fighting a pitched battle with SLA.
We intercepted transmission from LTTE communication system that he (Prabhakaran) had got into an ambulance with two other leaders. Soon afterward, we spotted the ambulance and attacked. It was burnt. We recovered three bodies. We are trying to verify if Prabhakaran's body is among them,'' Fonseka told HT hours after the bodies were recovered.
The other two senior leaders in the ambulance were said to be LTTE intelligence chief, Pottu Amman, and Sea Tiger chief Soosai.
Prabhakaran's death marked the end of LTTE, at least militarily, in Sri Lanka. Since 1983, the LTTE had been fighting for a separate nation state for the northern and eastern Tamils of Sri Lanka.
We have cleared the whole country of the LTTE. All the LTTE cadres have been killed. In the last battle at least 200 cadres were killed. The whole of Sri Lanka is now under the government. The LTTE has no control,'' Fonseka said.
The LTTE under Prabhakaran was formed in 1975. It began its war with successive Sinhala-majority governments in Colombo in 1983 after a vicious anti-Tamil pogrom that left more than 2,000 dead and many more homeless. The riots were triggered after the LTTE ambushed and killed 13 government troops in Jaffna.
The army commander confirmed the death of Prabhakaran's elder son, Charles Anthony, earlier in the day. ``We found Prabhakaran's son's body,'' Fonseka said.
Sri Lanka Army Special Forces soldiers have found a body suspected to be of Charles. According to the defence sources in the battlefront, the body was found after an unsuccessful and half-hearted attempt by the LTTE cadres to evacuate their leader's son early this morning.
Anthony was known to be the head of Information and Technology department of the LTTE. The defence ministry said that the LTTE leader was compelled to recruit his son to the outfit to avoid criticism over his hypocrisy. Anthony was given a very senior position in the outfit after establishing a special non-fighting unit for him, the ministry added.
Earlier, Sri Lankan Special Forces soldiers have found bodies of three key LTTE leaders identified as B Nadesan, Pulidevan and Ramesh during the mop-up operations in the last LTTE foothold on Sunday morning.
Nadesan, a former police constable of Sri Lanka police, was the political head of the outfit. Pulidevan was known to the head of "LTTE peace secretariat" while Ramesh was one of the most senior special military leaders of the outfit, the defence ministry said.
News of the wiping out of LTTE triggered spontaneous celebrations on the streets of Colombo. Crackers were burst and the Lankan flag was unfurled from terraces and balconies. Citizens hired cars and roamed the street with fluttering flags and horns blaring.
-
Blogger Comment
-
Facebook Comment
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
0 comments :
Post a Comment