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Sri Lanka declares victory as rebels deny chief dead
Tue May 19, 2009 1:28am EDT
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By C. Bryson Hull and Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO (Reuters) - As Sri Lanka declared victory in one of the world's most intractable wars, the European Union and United States urged its government to reach out to its Tamil population and protect civilians caught up in the fighting.
In a climactic gun battle, special forces troops killed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran on Monday as he tried to flee the war zone, state television said, giving the government control of the entire country for the first time since 1983.
But a LTTE official told a pro-Tamil website that the Tiger chief was still alive.
"I wish to inform the global Tamil community distressed witnessing the final events of the war that our beloved leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran is alive and safe," www.TamilNet.com quoted LTTE diplomatic head Selvarajah Pathmanathan as saying.
Prabhakaran, 54, founded the LTTE on a culture of suicide before surrender, and swore he would never be taken alive.
ADDRESS TO THE NATION
In an address to the nation from Parliament on Tuesday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said the entire country was now under government control.
"We have totally liberated the country from Tamil Tiger terrorism. Now we have established our rule in the entire country," he said.
Western powers urged the government to engage the Tamil community for the future.
"This is an opportunity for Sri Lanka to turn the page on its past and build a Sri Lanka rooted in democracy, tolerance and respect for human rights," U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters on Monday.
Sri Lankan army commander Lieutenant-General Sarath Fonseka said troops had crushed the last Tigers resisting an offensive that has in less than three years destroyed a group that had cultivated an aura of military invincibility while earning many terrorism designations.
Rajapaksa had already declared victory on Saturday, even as the final battle in Asia's longest modern war was intensifying after Sri Lanka said the last of 72,000 civilians held in the war zone had been freed.
The Tigers have long warned they would intensify guerrilla attacks on economically valuable targets if defeated on the battlefield. The past violence has hindered growth in Sri Lanka's tourism sector.
But the end of conventional combat and Prabhakaran's death sent the currency and stock markets to one-month and seven-month highs respectively on Monday.
CONTROVERSIAL VICTORY Continued...
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