Lankan army claims 3 top LTTE leaders killed

NI Wire

New Delhi

Mon, 18 May 2009: 

The Sri Lankan army Monday has claimed to have killed three top Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leaders including Charles Anthony, the son of LTTE’s Chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, whose fate is still unknown, and Balasingham Nadesan, the head of Tigers’ political wing, in the closing of last tractn of the LTTE.

In a bid to establish peace in the country, the Sri Lankan government had announced the final war to be fought against the Tamil rebels few days before. There were thousands of Tamils, civilians and army personnel killed in the tug of war between Tamil rebels and government in 26-year old civil war.

In the finishing move, the Lankan army has combed the 1.5 square kilometre area of the LTTE’s centre point. The LTTE on Sunday had reportedly announced to silence their guns as the war has been reached to a bitter end.

There are rumours about LTTE chief Prabhakaran as some sources said that Prabahakan have either committed suicide or have been shot dead in the war while some sources says, ‘he is still alive and safe’.

The army or government has not made any announcement or confirmation regarding Prabhakaran. But, MDMK chief Vaiko has claimed that LTTE chief is still alive and safe. He said that his claim was based on the talk to LTTE spokesperson Natesan on May 13, who had assured him that the LTTE leaders, including Prabhakaran, were safe.

But, the Lankan army has claimed to have found the body of Charles Anthony, who was reportedly seriously injured. His injured body has been recovered from Pudhukkudiyiruppu as the army sources said, and he was taken to no-fire zone.

Moreover, the dead bodies of Nadesan, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, head of rebel’s peace secretariat, and the military leader Ramesh have also been recovered from the war zone, as informed the Lankan Defence Ministry to the media.

On the other hand, it is expected that the European Union leaders can call for a probe of LTTE’s claim that Tamil civilians have been targeted in the war.

The LTTE’s spokesperson has claimed that Lankan army has targeted thousands of Tamils in the last three days of war.