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Pokiriraja
Bewarse Legend
Username: Pokiriraja
Post Number: 11670
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 125.62.208.59
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 4:22 am: |
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Sri Lankan army kills Prabhakaran's son
May 18, 2009
Closing in on the last foothold of the Lankan Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Sri Lankan special forces on Monday killed seven top rebel leaders, including Charles Anthony, son of Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran whose fate is still unknown.
The army believes that its special forces have encircled Prabhakaran, Tigers' intelligence head Pottu Amman and Sea Tigers' chief Soosoi, who are boxed into a 100m x 100m area, north of Vellamullivaikkal and that they would be ringed in soon.
The body of the 24-year-old Anthony, chief of the LTTE's [Images] air wing, was found during mop-up operations in the last rebel-held territory in the no-fire zone on Monday morning, the defence ministry said.
The bodies of LTTE's political head B Nadesan, LTTE peace secretariat chief Pulidevan and Tigers' special forces military leader Ramesh were found in the war zone, it said.
Troops also recovered the bodies of Tigers police wing chief Ilango along with senior rebel leaders Sundaram and Kapil Amman.
However, there was no word on the fate of the outfit's chief Prabhakaran about whose death there have been a lot of speculative reports in the last two days.
The death of the 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.
According to defence sources, Anthony's body was found after an unsuccessful attempt by the Tamil Tigers to evacuate him early on Monday.
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said some rebels continued to offer resistance as the troops conducted "mopping-up operations" in the area.
Anthony was known head the LTTE's information and technology department. It is believed that Prabhakaran was compelled to recruit his son into the outfit to avoid criticism over his hypocrisy.
The LTTE leader was often criticised for sending thousands of children to war while giving a luxurious life and the best of education to his own children.
Anthony was injured in March while fighting the security forces alongside other prominent LTTE leaders like Banu and Lakshman.
Prabhakaran named his eldest son after Charles Anthony, a close and loyal confidant who was killed in a confrontation with the Sri Lankan army in the early 1980s.
Prabhakaran's son, who returned from Ireland in 2006, was believed to have got a degree in aeronautical engineering.
Confronting the LTTE fighters who tried to escape, the army early on Sunday killed 70 Tiger rebels and destroyed six boats, the military said.
http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/may/18/srilankan-army-kills-prabhakarans-son. htm
NANADAMURI TARAKA RAMUDIKI HANUMANTHUDHINI NENU
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Pokiriraja
Bewarse Legend
Username: Pokiriraja
Post Number: 11669
Registered: 02-2005
Posted From: 125.62.208.59
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 18, 2009 - 4:21 am: |
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Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was on 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 LTTE [Images] 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 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 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 slain top LTTE leaders 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 the Sri Lankan police, was heading the political wing of the Tamil Tigers. S Pulidevan was the head of the '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 the Information and Technology department of the LTTE. After being cornered, the LTTE had on 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 had 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 the LTTE, has left more than 70,000 dead in pitched battles, suicide attacks, bomb strikes and assassinations.
Tamil Tiger Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, whose outfit conceded defeat, was very clear about his demand for an Tamile Eelam and asked his cadres to shoot him if he ever swayed away from it, his former confidante has said.
"But his commitment for Tamile Eelam could not be doubted. He even told the LTTE members that in case he (Prabhakaran) swayed away from the desire to carve out a separate Tamileelam, then he should not be spared and killed," said his former aid turned foe D Siddharthan, who formed the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Ealam after falling out with the LTTE leader.
Siddharthan, who along with former LTTE leaders Krishnan and Guhan opened the first LTTE office in London [Images] in the 1970s, split with Prabhakaran following differences.
Their enmity became so acute became that Prabhakaran had ordered his cadres to kill Siddharthan.
The PLOTE leader said that Prabhakaran failed to realise the ground realities because of his 'intransigence and lack of understanding of the geo-political reality'.
"Prabhakaran failed to use the military might to benefit the Tamil community. He pushed the Tamils into an abyss," he said
NANADAMURI TARAKA RAMUDIKI HANUMANTHUDHINI NENU
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