LTTE chief Prabhakaran dead

T V Sriram
Colombo, May 18 (PTI) LTTE Supremo Velupillai
Prabhakaran, who led a ruthless movement for a Tamil Eelam in
Sri Lanka that decimated a score of Sinhalese and Tamil
leaders and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, was Monday
killed by the army bringing curtains on the 30-year-old war
that has claimed over 70,000 lives.

Prabhakaran was shot dead by Sri Lankan special forces
as he tried to stage a dramatic breakout from the army
encirclement, a military spokesman said.

The news of Prabhakaran's death also came along with
reports of bodies of his son Charles Anthony and three other
top leaders -- Pottu Amman, Soosai and Nadesan being found.
Prabhakaran and his top aides were driving in an
armour-plated van accompanied by a clutch of rebels in a bus
and approaching the Special Forces. A two-hour exchange of
fire followed and the forces fired a rocket at the van brining
an end to the battle, army sources said.
Prabhakaran's body was pulled out from the van and
identified, they said. Prime Minister Ratnasri Wickramanayake
said the army says they have killed him.
"The next step would be the development in the north
(Tamil areas)," he said.
Celebrations broke out in the capital here as news
spread of the death of Prabhakaran, who led the longest armed
struggle in South Asia for nothing less than a separate
homeland for Tamils.
Prabhakaran, who had seen many a battle, could not
survive the sustained assault from the Sri Lankan forces that
began in November last year leading to displacement of the
Tigers from their long-held de-facto capital of Kilinochchi
and then from Mullaitivu.
Prabhakaran founded the LTTE in the late 1970s and
carried out his first political murder against the mayor of
Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah, a fellow Tamil, by shooting him at
point blank range while he was about to enter Hindu temple at
Ponnaalai.
The LTTE, which was angry over IPKF role in the Tamil
areas in the aftermath of the Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardane accord,
assassinated Rajiv Gandhi in Sriperumbudur near Chennai in
1991 during election campaign by a women suicide bomber.
The death of top LTTE leaders came a day after the
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 Prabhakaran 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 Amman and Soosai 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. PTI TVS
PMR