LTTE Supreme Commander Prabhakaran “Shot Dead”
In the last leg of war, the leader of LTTE was killed along with his son and other rebel commanders, said a report.
Reports of Velupillai Prabhakaran’s death came as the Lankan Government claim to have seized control of the entire island state for the first time in 26 years, putting an end to continent’s longest-running war.
According to state television, Prabhakaran was ambushed and shot dead while attempting to flee army as it closed in on the last rebel fortifications.
However, a military spokesman disputes this account of events saying that there had been no formal identification of Prabhakaran’s body.
On the other hand, another official source said that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse would address the nation this evening to announce the death of the Tiger leader.
It should be mentioned that the fighting between remaining rebels and the army continued to rage in the northeast of the country despite the Tigers’ weekend admission of defeat.
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said that commando units and other crack government troops were trading machine gun fire with “a couple of hundred” of Tiger fighters hunkered down in fortified bunkers, thought to include several senior rebel leaders.
The conflict area had been reduced to a patch of land just 100 metres by 100 metres, he added. Tens of thousands of civilians who had been caught in the crossfire were finally allowed to flee to freedom over the weekend.
