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On the Death of
Velupillai Prabhakaran
No sign of Prabhakaran's body, says Sri Lanka
Agence France Presse 17 May 2009
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's defence ministry said on Sunday its
advancing troops had found no trace of defeated Tamil Tiger leader
Velupillai Prabhakaran, although the bodies of two mid-ranking
rebels were recovered.
Spokesman Lakshman Hulugalle said the military had not found
Prabhakaran dead or alive during their offensive and dismissed a
flurry of rumours about the fate of the 54-year-old veteran
guerrilla leader. "We have no information about Prabhakaran,"
Hulugalle said.
A military official said the bodies of two mid-level Tiger leaders
were identified after a shoot out Sunday while a search for
Prabhakaran was under way.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the security
forces were yet to come across Prabhakaran and his top aides,
including intelligence chief Pottu Amman and Colonel Soosai, the
head of the Sea Tiger unit.
"We have still not come across Prabhakaran and his senior leaders,"
Nanayakkara told reporters here. "We believe they are still in this
land. We hope to meet them soon."
Military sources said that Prabhakaran was known to have two body
doubles as part of his tight security. The Tiger leader has never
been arrested since he jumped bail in neighbouring India in the
early 1980s.
He is known for wearing a cyanide capsule around his neck with which
to commit suicide to prevent being taken alive. The cyanide is a
standard part of the Tigers' uniform. |
