Lanka captures last LTTE bastion,420 rebels killed

The Army has captured the entire Pudukudiriyirippu area that was under the control of the Tamil Tigers,who have lost many of their key leaders in the latest fighting,military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said. Bodies of 420 rebels killed in intense clashes with advancing troops in the past three days have been recovered from the war zone,he added.

“Prabhakaran is in the 20 sq-km no-fire zone after army captured the remaining one sq-km LTTE area in Pudukudiyirippu.

He will be caught dead or alive. It will be easier to detect him amongst the people because of his heavy size,” a top Defence Ministry official told PTI.

Military sources said a number of senior LTTE leaders,including Theepan,Ruben,Nagesh,Gadaphi (a former bodyguard of Prabakaran),Vidusha (head of ‘Malathi’ female wing),Durga (head of ‘Soothiya’ female wing) and Kamalini were killed in fighting since last night.

India should treat us as an ‘ally’: Nadesan

On the verge of defeat at the hands of the Sri Lankan forces,the LTTE appealed to India to treat them as their ‘ally’.

Tamil Tigers’ political head B Nadesan said the Tigers were disappointed with India’s attitude towards them and New Delhi should not consider the LTTE as an enemy.

“We are not enemies of India or Indian interests. India should look at us as an ally. We are disappointed with India’s attitude towards us,” Nadesan told a TV channel.

Conceding that the rebels have lost 4,000 of their cadres in the last two years of fighting,Nadesan also claimed that the rebels have killed over 20,000 Sri Lankan soldiers over the period.

“Speaking in military jargon,during the last two years of fighting more than 20,000 Sri Lankan troops have been killed. We have also lost around 4,000 of our fighters,” Nadesan told the channel.

He said the LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran was in “excellent health and leading our freedom struggle”.

Sri Lankan military today claimed to capture the last rebel bastion of Pudukudiriyirippu in the island’s embattled north where they killed at least 420 LTTE cadres in fierce fighting.

Nadesan said the rebels had “sufficient man power” and had captured enough weapons and ammunition from the Sri Lankan armed forces in the battlefront.