Sri Lankan TV shows body of rebel leader
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Daily News with wires
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mayıs 20, 2009 00:00
COLOMBO - Speculations grew yesterday over the death of the Tamil Tiger rebel leader as Sri Lankan state television broadcast video footage yesterday of what it said was the body of Velupillai Prabhakaran hours after the rebels claimed he was still alive.
Also yesterday, Sri Lanka's president declared his country "liberated from separatist terror," hailing "a day which is very, very significant - not only to us Sri Lankans, but to the entire world." In his victory address to parliament, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appeared to reach out to the minority Tamils, for whom the rebels had said they were trying to carve out a homeland. He also alluded to promises to forge a power-sharing agreement with them, according to The Associated Press. "Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip of the (rebels). We all must now live as equals in this free country," he said, briefly speaking in the Tamil language.
Meanwhile, TV footage showed a bloated body resembling the rebel leader, still dressed in a dark green camouflage uniform, laid out on a stretcher on the grass. A blue cloth rested on top of his head, apparently to cover a bullet wound. His open eyes stared straight up. The images also showed Prabhakaran's dog tag with the marking '0:01' and his Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, identity card. The broadcast came after the country's army chief, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, announced he was "very pleased to confirm that we have killed Prabhakaran." "The fighting was yesterday (Monday). He was killed yesterday, and the body was identified today," the government's defense spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.
Speaking before the announcement, a rebel official abroad denied Prabhakaran was killed and said the Tamil Tiger leader was in a safe place. In a statement carried by the pro-separatist Web site Tamil.net, the Tiger official accused Colombo of fabricating news of Prabhakaran's death in order "to gloat" over its rout of the rebel army. "Our beloved leader is alive and safe. He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people," the Tigers' chief of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, said in a statement.
He denied suggestions that Prabhakaran had been shot dead while fleeing. "We categorically reject this," Pathmanathan said, without making any claim to the rebel leader's current whereabouts. In London, where there is a huge Tamil population, about 700 British Tamils have demonstrated in front of Parliament, demanding international intervention in Sri Lanka. Ten protesters were arrested in the early morning hours after a scuffle with police.
Meanwhile, TV footage showed a bloated body resembling the rebel leader, still dressed in a dark green camouflage uniform, laid out on a stretcher on the grass. A blue cloth rested on top of his head, apparently to cover a bullet wound. His open eyes stared straight up. The images also showed Prabhakaran's dog tag with the marking '0:01' and his Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, identity card. The broadcast came after the country's army chief, Gen. Sarath Fonseka, announced he was "very pleased to confirm that we have killed Prabhakaran." "The fighting was yesterday (Monday). He was killed yesterday, and the body was identified today," the government's defense spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, was quoted as saying by Agence France-Presse.
Speaking before the announcement, a rebel official abroad denied Prabhakaran was killed and said the Tamil Tiger leader was in a safe place. In a statement carried by the pro-separatist Web site Tamil.net, the Tiger official accused Colombo of fabricating news of Prabhakaran's death in order "to gloat" over its rout of the rebel army. "Our beloved leader is alive and safe. He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people," the Tigers' chief of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, said in a statement.
He denied suggestions that Prabhakaran had been shot dead while fleeing. "We categorically reject this," Pathmanathan said, without making any claim to the rebel leader's current whereabouts. In London, where there is a huge Tamil population, about 700 British Tamils have demonstrated in front of Parliament, demanding international intervention in Sri Lanka. Ten protesters were arrested in the early morning hours after a scuffle with police.