COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The defeated Tamil Tiger rebels confirmed Sunday that their supreme leader was killed in the group’s final battle against Sri Lankan troops.
The almost mythic commander, Velupillai Prabhakaran, led a terror-driven Tamil insurrection in Sri Lanka for more than a quarter century.
Last week, the government declared it finally killed Prabhakaran and proclaimed victory against his Tamil Tigers, crushing the rebellion that the U.N. estimates cost between 80,000 to 100,000 lives.
But many Tamils didn’t believe it.
For some die-hard followers, especially those living abroad, it hardly matters whether the legendary guerrilla is alive or dead, as long as there is a continuing story line of an independent Tamil state in part of this Sinhalese-dominated island.
Meanwhile, the government said it believes Prabhakaran’s deputy and feared intelligence chief was also among the dead, but his body has not been identified.
Sri Lanka’s Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said in an interview with privately owned Derana TV on Sunday that soldiers have still not been able to identify the body of Pottu Amman, who along with Prabhakaran were wanted by India for the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
“There is no doubt that he’s been killed,” Rajapaksa said.
The military earlier claimed to have identified the body of the spy chief. Rajapaksa did not explain the contradiction.
Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, by a female Tamil Tiger suicide bomber at an election rally.
