World | Other World Stories
State television: Sri Lanka rebel leader killed
Sri Lanka's state TV announced that Tamil Tiger rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has been killed.
- Gulf News Report
- Published: 12:43 May 18, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- Sri Lanka's state television on Monday announced the death of Tiger rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Colombo: The killing of Velupillai Prabhakaran, who transformed a motley band of poorly armed rebels into one of the world's most sophisticated and ruthless insurgencies, spells the end of a three-decade quest for an independent homeland for minority Tamils and the beginning of a new era of development in Sri Lanka, officials and analysts said on Monday.
Sri Lanka announced on Monday that it had finished off the last of the rebels in the northern war zone and killed Prabhakaran, 54, and his top deputies.
The announcement sparked mass celebrations around the country.
"Restoring confidence among civilians who fled the war zone and winning their hearts and minds will be the top priority of the government," Keheliya Rambukwella, Cabinet Minister and Sri Lankan spokesman for national security, told Gulf News over the phone from Colombo "Measures will be taken to ensure the civilians who fled from areas held under rebel control can all live in complete harmony," he said.
According to him, more than 36,000 civilians had been brought to safety by the army. The UN refugee agency said 265,000 Sri Lankans have fled the civil war in recent months, but unknown numbers are still trapped in the conflict zone.
"These civilians will have to start their life afresh & The entire infrastructure [of the battle-hit areas] has to be rebuilt in and equipped with proper facilities, housing and schools," Rambukwella said.
Sri Lanka's army chief, Lieutenant General Sareth Fonseka, said on television that his troops routed the last rebels from the northern war zone yesterday morning. "We can announce very responsibly that we have liberated the whole country from terrorism," he told state television.
In London, a spokesman for the British Tamils' Forum, the largest organisation for expatriate Tamils in Britain, said the community was in despair. "The people are very sombre and very saddened. But we are ever determined and resilient to continue our struggle," he said.
The European Union meanwhile called for an independent war crimes investigation into the killing of civilians during the conflict and said it wanted alleged violations of human rights laws investigated.
Rupavahini television, the state broadcaster, broke into its regular programming Monday afternoon to announce Prabakharan's death. They gave no details of how he was killed. The government information department also sent a text message to cell phones across the country announcing Prabhakaran was killed along with his top deputies, who were known as Soosai and Pottu Amman.
Sri Lanka's army chief, Lieutenant General Sareth Fonseka, told television his troops routed the last rebels from the northern war zone Monday morning and were working to identify Prabhakaran's body from among the dead.
More from Other World Stories
More from World
News Editor's choice
-
Ukraine leaders fight over Russian language
Violence erupts in Ukraine parliament over a bill to allow use of Russian language in courts, hospitals
-
CBSE: 100% success in many UAE schools
6,000 students from 53 schools meet grade expectations in examinations
-
'I can’t believe he is not going to come back'
Seventeen-year-old boy went missing in Dubai during a visit from Pakistan
