LTTE completely defeated, Sri Lankan president tells Parliament

COLOMBO, May 19 Kyodo -
The ''complete defeat'' of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels was announced in
Parliament on Tuesday by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also
commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces.
Rajapaksa's announcement came as the pro-rebel TamilNet website rejected the
government claim that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader Velupillai
Prabhakaran has been killed, carrying a statement by the LTTE's international
relations head assuring ''his safety and wellbeing.''
''Our beloved leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is alive and safe,'' S.
Pathmanathan said. ''He will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom
for the Tamil people.''
Sri Lanka's government Information Department rejected the LTTE claim, posting
on its website Tuesday that Army commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka ''confirmed that
the body of V. Prabhakaran, leader of world's most barbaric terrorist outfit
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been found short while ago.''
''Military sources quashed speculative reports on pro-LTTE websites that the
LTTE leader was alive and safe. 'We have now found his body','' it quoted an
unnamed defense official as saying.
And Pathmanathan, on the Tamil website, accused the president and government of
needing to ''carry on and gloat'' in a planned victory celebration Tuesday and
had the military establishment plant the story that Prabhakaran was dead.
Analysts had noted that even as international wires carried reports of
Prabhakaran's death and the country celebrated by lighting fire crackers and
hoisting the national flag everywhere, there were no pictures of Prabhakaran's
body released or telecast.
''They showed pictures of Prabhakaran's son, Charles Anthony's body, but not
that of the LTTE leader,'' they noted.
But later Tuesday, images of Prabhakaran's body were telecast on Sri Lanka
national television shortly after Fonseka confirmed he was dead and his body
had been found.
Prabhakaran's body was clad in his trademark campaign fatigues in the images
that were telecast.
Rajapaksa earlier told a ceremonial sitting of Parliament that the government
now controlled ''every inch'' of Sri Lankan territory with the rout of the
Tigers on Monday.
''The writ of the state now runs across every inch of our territory,'' he said
during a nationally televised address.
''We have completely defeated terrorism,'' he added, stressing this was a
victory for the entire nation and must not be seen as a defeat for the minority
Tamils.
==Kyodo