We want to get Prabhakaran dead or alive: Lankan army

Fresh from their success in capturing the last urban stronghold of LTTE in Mullaittivu,the Sri Lankan troops are training their guns on LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran...

Fresh from their success in capturing the last urban stronghold of LTTE in Mullaittivu,the Sri Lankan troops are training their guns on LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran who,defence officials feel,is very much in the northern Wanni region.

Our aim is to capture Prabhakaran dead or alive and we are sure he is around Mullaittivu commanding the militants though they have limited options as most of the LTTE areas have been captured, a senior defence official said.

We are concentrating as a unit to target LTTE top leaders,especially Prabhakaran,as they might try to escape realising they do not have many options to hide, the official said. He felt that the guerrilla leader is very much in the Wanni region,which comprises Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu.

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Announcing the capture of the main Mullaittivu town on Sunday,Sri Lanka Army Chief Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka had declared that the war was 95 per cent over.

The army believes that after the capture of a luxury bunker and an underground command centre suspected to be that of Prabhakaran,the LTTE leader would be seriously weighing all options either to flee or to find some hiding place.

The bunker,which is believed to have housed Prabhakaran,and the underground operations unit of the LTTE were found in the thick forests of Dharmapuram town in Mullaittivu last week. Since the centre had all the trappings of a command headquarters,its seizure has raised further questions on Prabhakarans whereabouts.

LTTE commander-turned-Parliamentarian Vinayagamoorty Muralidaran alias Karuna Amman believes Prabhakaran cannot escape to any other country as the authorities concerned would not permit him.

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Karuna,who split from the LTTE in 2004 following differences with Prabhakaran,on Saturday said he felt that Prabhakaran will be arrested if he escapes to India.

A senior Tamil leader,who has escaped several assassination attempts by the LTTE,said Prabhakaran has been almost cornered.

After driving the Tamil Tigers out of their last stronghold Mullaittivu,Sri Lankan forces on Monday carried on with the hot pursuit of the rebel remnants and captured three large-scale bomb making units of the LTTE,while the air force pounded their positions in the northeast.

The Army has captured three bomb making factories of the LTTE at Pudukudirippu and Dharmapuram in Mullaitivu,the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

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Maintaining that the military offensive in the north was not aimed at Tamil civilians but the LTTE,Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said the Government is determined to give the community its rightful place in society.

The Government is determined to give Tamils their rightful place in society and treat them as equals among the Sinhalese,Muslims or Burghers, Rajapaksa said.

He said the humanitarian operation is not aimed at harming northern Tamils but at crushing terrorism. The day on which the Tamils in the north are liberated from terrorism and estate Tamils from poverty is not far off as the welfare of innocent,law-abiding Tamils is our priority, Rajapaksa said at a UPFA rally at the Norwood Public Ground in the Central Province on Sunday.