Sri Lankan Military: Rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead

The Sri Lankan military claims the leader of the Tamil Tigers, Velupillai Prabhakaran, his son and several other leaders are dead.

The Sri Lankan state television made this announcement today after the military surrounded Prabhakaran in a small jungle area in the north-east. Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka, head of the Sri Lankan Army, told state television the military defeated the rebels and have liberated the entire country. As BBC reports, Gen. Fonseka said:

"Today we finished the work handed to us by the president to liberate the country from the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)."

Since the international press is barred from the area, they are unable to verify his claim. Fonseca also said they are trying to identify Prabhakaran’s body from other dead bodies. BBC’s Charles Haviland reported from Colombo that Prabhakaran was trying to escape in an ambulance when he was found and shot dead by the military. The television broadcast quoted military officials saying Prabhakaran was killed along with his intelligence chief Pottu Amman and Soosai, the head of the Tigers naval wing, as they tried to escape in an ambulance. The state television previously showed images of a dead body believed to be Prabhakaran’s eldest son, Charles Anthony. Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara also confirmed Prabhakaran's death. He said more than 250 Tamil Tigers were killed in the battle overnight. The government’s information department sent news about Prabhakaran’s death by text message to mobile phones across the country. If the news is true, it will be a major setback for Tamil Tigers and a huge victory for Sri Lankan government.