LTTE DECIMATED DAYS BEFORE RAJIV GANDHI'S 18TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, May 21 (Bernama) -- The man held responsible for the death of
Rajiv Gandhi did not live to see the 18th death anniversary of the assassinated
Indian prime minister.

In a twist of fate, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) chief
Velupillai Prabhakaran, blamed for the assassination of Gandhi on May 21, 1991,
was himself killed by Colombo troops in the north of Sri Lanka on Monday.

Gandhi, then 54, was killed by a woman LTTE cadre in Sriperumbudur, about
30km from Chennai, while about to deliver an election speech.

At about 10pm on that unfortunate day, the young woman, later identified as
Thenmozhi Rajaratnam alias Tanu, detonated about 700 grams of RDX hidden under
her dress as she bowed to touch Gandhi's feet.

"It was the biggest mistake of the LTTE (to carry out the assassination).
They were totally alienated by the Indian population after that. No political
party will touch them," Colonel R. Hariharan, retired head of intelligence of
the Indian peacekeeping force in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990, told Bernama.

Prabhakaran, who led a strong militant force against the government army
then, was totally against India's decision to send a peacekeeping force to the
northern part of Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan government officially claimed victory on Tuesday after wiping
out the entire LTTE top brass in the final battle in the island's north and also
confirmed the deaths of Prabhakaran and his son Charles Anthony, 24.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced in parliament that the
country was freed from the clutches of terrorism and the LTTE was completely
decimated by the country's armed forces -- which fought a 25-year-old war
against the group that waged a war for a separate homeland for the Tamil
population in the north.

Members of the Gandhi family are expected to visit Sriperumbudur Thursday to
pay tribute at the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial and there is still the fear that LTTE
sympathisers could create security problems for the family.
-- BERNAMA