Prabhakaran shot dead while trying to break army siege:SL army

T V Sriram

Colombo, May 18 (PTI) Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai
Prabhakaran was Monday shot dead by Sri Lankan special forces
as he tried to stage a dramatic breakout from the army
encirclement, a military spokesman said.

Prabhakaran and his top aides came out of their last
hiding place in a small convoy of van and an ambulance and
tried to drive out of the war zone, but were gunned down, he
said.

However, the army is withholding an official
announcement till a DNA test of the bodies are conducted.

The Tiger chief was killed with two others, who are
yet to be identified but believed to be his closest associates
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) intelligence chief
Pottu Amman and Sea Tigers' chief Soosoi.

The deaths of the top LTTE leaders came a day after
Tamil Tigers conceded defeat saying the decades-old battle has
reached its "bitter end" and they have decided to "silence"
their guns.

Earlier in the morning, military spokesman Brigadier
Udaya Nanayakkara had said that Prabhakarn was still alive but
completely encircled by advancing Sri Lankan forces in a tiny
jungle area north of Vellamullivaikkal after most of the
LTTE's top leaders were found killed.

The army said that its special forces had encircled
Prabhakaran, Pottu Aman and Soosoi who were boxed into a 100m
x 100m area.

The killing of Prabhakaran came as officials confirmed
that more than 220 frontline rebel cadres, including his elder
son Charles Anthony, LTTE political head Balasingham Nadesan
and LTTE peace Secretariat chief S Pulidevan had been killed
in fierce battles in the last 12 hours.

The other top LTTE leaders slain include Black Tigers'
chief Ramesh, Tigers' police wing chief Ilango and senior
leaders Sundaram and Kapil Amman.

The body of 24-year-old Anthony, chief of LTTE's air
wing, was found during mopping up operations in the last
rebel-held territory in the no-fire zone this morning, the
defence ministry said.

Nadesan, a former constable of Sri Lankan police, was
heading the political wing of the Tamil Tigers. S Pulidevan
was the head of "LTTE peace secretariat" while S Ramesh was
the chief of Black Tigers.

According to the defence sources, the body of Anthony
was found after an unsuccessful attempt by the Tamil Tigers to
evacuate their leader's son early this morning.

Anthony was known to be the head of Information and
Technology department of the LTTE.

After being cornered, LTTE Sunday said it had no other
option but to silence its guns.

"We remain with one last choice -- to remove the last
weak excuse of the enemy for killing our people. We have
decided to silence our guns," LTTE's chief of international
relations Selvarasa Pathmanathan said.

"This battle has reached its bitter end," Pathmanathan
said, adding that "our only regrets are for the lives lost and
that we could not hold out for longer."

The rebels' statement followed President Mahinda
Rajapaksa's declaration on Friday in Jordan that the LTTE has
been defeated militarily.

"My government with the total commitment of our Armed
Forces, has in an unprecedented humanitarian operation,
finally defeated the LTTE militarily," Rajapaksa had said.

The over three-decades old conflict for a separate
Tamil state waged by LTTE has left more than 70,000 dead in
pitched battles, suicide attacks, bomb strikes and
assassinations. PTI