Prabhakaran is alive, claims LTTE

Colombo, May 19 (ANI): Rejecting Sri Lankan Government's claim that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's chief V. Prabhakaran has been killed by the army, LTTE's International Relations head S. Pathmanathan on Tuesday said Tamil Tigers chief is still alive and healthy.

According to a website TamilNet, Pathmanathan said: "I wish to inform the global Tamil community distressed witnessing the final events of the war that our beloved leader is alive and safe. He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people."

He asked the Tamil community to be vigilant and to exercise maximum restraint whilst grieving for the loss of civilian lives in the barbaric conduct of the final chapters of this battle.

Pathmanathan further said that the Tamil freedom struggle is a just cause and will not be quashed by the events of the last 24 hours. Truth and justice will always prevail.

Earlier on Monday, Sri Lanka formally announced the end of war against the LTTE after chief V. Prabhakaran was shot dead while trying to flee in an ambulance from the war zone in northern Sri Lanka.

The three-decade long fight by the LTTE for a separate homeland for Tamils came to end after the death of Tamil Tigers chief.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse told President Mahinda Rajpakse on Monday in a nationally televised ceremony that Sri Lanka's war against Tamil Tiger rebels has "ended successfully."

"We have successfully ended the war," he told the President, who is his brother and commander-in-chief of the Sri Lankan armed forces.

Sri Lankan military commanders also lined up and shook hands with him before starting closed-door talks.

According to the military, the Tamil Tigers tried to evacuate its leaders early this morning in two vehicles. Army special soldiers of 53 Division intercepted the vehicles moving north and destroyed the convoy after fierce fighting.

The military said it had found 150 bodies of LTTE cadres so far and they are in the process of identifying them.

The news of Prabhakaran's death also came along with reports of bodies of his son Charles Anthony and three other top leaders -- Pottu Amman, Soosai and Nadesan being found. (ANI)