Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, frequently visited the base where “LTTE human bombs were hosted with their ‘final dinner of death'
Colombo: Sri Lanka’s military said soldiers captured the largest training base for Tamil Tiger suicide bombers in an army offensive to defeat the group in the north and end the 26-year conflict.
Evidence suggests that Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, frequently visited the base where “LTTE human bombs were hosted with their ‘final dinner of death,’” the Defense Ministry said in a statement on its Web site late yesterday.
The LTTE has used its “Black Tiger” suicide squads to carry out attacks, including raiding an air force base in the north in October 2007 that destroyed eight military helicopters and aircraft. The group was the first to use female suicide bombers and develop explosive belts and vests, the U.S. Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism said in a 2006 report.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in an Independence Day speech yesterday, said the LTTE will be defeated within “a few days” and the country freed from the “dark shadow of terrorism.”
The US and the UK two days ago appealed to the government and the LTTE to introduce a “temporary no-fire period” so that aid agencies are able to reach the conflict zone and civilians can leave.
Source: Gulfnews