COLOMBO - Sri Lanka’s government has marked the birthday of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran with a vow to kill him. The island’s powerful defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, said Colombo now had the upper hand in the long-running conflict, with the elusive guerrilla chief limited in both his movements and ability to score strategic victories.Earlier this month the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), S.P. Thamilselvan, was killed in what the government said was a precision air strike on the north and not a mere lucky hit. “The killing of Thamilselvan sent a very powerful message: they know we have good intelligence on their movements,” Rajapakse told AFP in an interview Monday at the heavily-fortified defence ministry in Colombo.
Monday was also the day the LTTE chief marked his 53rd birthday, and Rajapakse said that if all goes to plan it will be his last. “We are after him. We are specifically targeting their leadership,” he said. “For the last few months he (Prabhakaran) has been even more restricted in his movements. We want to keep them under pressure. We are gathering intelligence, information.”
The threat came as Prabhakaran was set to give his annual speech from a jungle hideout in his northern mini-state marking the end of ”heroes’ week”, commemorating around 20,000 Tamils who have died fighting for a separate homeland. Prabhakaran’s speech, due to be broadcast later Tuesday, will come at the end of a year of several setbacks for the LTTE.
Government forces regained full control over the east of the island in July, and have also managed to sink what the government says is the bulk of the rebelsÂ’ fabled fleet of gun-running ships.
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