Sri Lanka army chief says 25-year war is over Prabhakaran dead, says state TV (Roundup)

May 18, 2009, 12:49 GMT

   Colombo -  Sri Lanka's 25-year-old civil war has been brought to an end after the Tamil rebels were crushed by the military, Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka declared Monday.

   The announcement came soon after state media announced that the leader of the Tamil rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, 54, who waged war to carve out a separate state for minority Tamils in north and eastern Sri Lanka, had been killed.

Also killed, according Sri Lankan state media, were Prabhakaran's son, Charles Anthony, the deputy rebel leader Pottu Ammna, the separatist rebels' intelligence chief, as well as Sooai, leader of rebels' naval unit.

   General Fonseka told state TV, 'We have now completed our task of liberating the north and east from terrorists.'

   'The mission entrusted to us by President (Mahinda Rajapaksa) has ended,' he said, referring to crushing the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and liberating the civilians trapped in the rebel-held areas.

   All military services commanders were scheduled to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the defence minister, later in the evening to brief him on the end of the military operation.

   However, no official statement has been made about Prabhakaran's death and it was likely that formal comments about his death will follow after the meeting with the president.

   The rebel chief is said to have been trying to escape in a vehicle when he was confronted by the Special Forces, sparking off a confrontation in which Prabhakaran was killed, army sources stationed in the area said.

   Another vehicle also carrying senior members was hit in the attack, they said.

   Earlier the Defence Ministry said as many as 250 bodies had been found and they were in the process of identifying them.

   Earier Monday afternoon, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told state television that the Tamil rebel leadership was cornered in an area of 100 square metres in north-eastern Sri Lanka but was still offering resistance.

   The spokesman said about 200 rebels were believed to be guarding the leaders. He added that government troops were carrying on their final operations to clear the area in Vellamullivaikkal, 395 kilometres north-east of the capital, Colombo.

   The Defence Ministry identified other LTTE leaders who were killed as P Nadesan, head of its political division; S Pulidevan, the head of its peace secretariat; a military-wing leader known only as Ramesh; Illangovan, the head of the police wing of the rebels; Kapil Amman, deputy head of the intelligence wing; and a close aide of Charles Anthony identified as Sundarman.

   The LTTE said Sunday that they were ending their armed struggle for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils.

   Troops overnight recovered ammunition, weapons and other military hardware left behind by the rebels.

   President Rajapaksa was due to make a formal announcement Tuesday morning that the fighting against the rebels had been brought to an end. He is to address the nation from Parliament.

   People poured into the streets in many towns, setting off firecrackers, waving the national flag and distributing milk rice to celebrate the military victory.

   In Colombo, soon after the announcement of the LTTE leader's death, people were seen lighting firecrackers at junctions, holding up traffic briefly while youth were seen shaking hands with soldiers on duty at sentry points.

   The government in a statement said it has appealed to the public to fly the national flag in all houses and institutions, 'as a mark of victory achieved by security forces in defeating terrorism and as a tribute to heroic soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the nation.'

   A noisy demonstration was staged outside the British High Commission in Colombo Monday morning, calling on Britain to refrain from intervening in Sri Lanka's internal affairs.

   More than 250,000 civilians who fled rebel-held areas are now being housed in camps in the North Province with promises from the government that they would be resettled in their original villages as soon as possible. No timeframe was given.

   The ethnic conflict has claimed over 80,000 lives and enormous damage to the economy, including the once thriving tourist industry.