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LTTE leader killed: Army

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s military on Tuesday claimed that the third seniormost leader of the “LTTE’s rudimentary naval wing” Chandrasekaran Pillai alias Thiyagan was killed along with five senior cadres on Monday in an intense sea battle in Pulmodai.

According to the Defence Ministry, the Navy, in a pre-dawn confrontation off Nayaru, destroyed an LTTE attack boat when the latter attempted to evacuate its cadres stranded in the jungles north of Trincomalee.

“Intercepted radio transmission among the LTTE cadres has revealed that two self-styled “Lt. Colonels” of LTTE identified as Thiyagan alias Chandrasekaran Pillai and Sodilingam Nishanthan alias Kanyanthambi, one self-styled “Captain” named Sewandan Arulsuryan alias Agasur, and three self- styled “Second Lieutenants” named Lylan Anushan alias Sembulwanan, Eswaranthan Waran alias Olinivan, Sasikumar alias Ahalkadal had been killed in the incident.”

The Ministry said the death toll could be higher as the type of the craft destroyed usually carry a crew of 12.

The military alleged that the LTTE gunmen killed two Tamil youths in two separate locations in Jaffna.

However, TamilNet, quoting LTTE sources, said the two youths were among eight killed by pro-government forces.

The military said tension prevailed in the area where “armed LTTE operatives have launched ‘reprisal attacks’ on civilians” for coordinating with security forces. In another development, Government Peace Secretariat chief Rajiva Wijesinha has asked the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to issue a formal apology for its false allegations regarding destruction of evidence on the execution style killing of 17 aid workers of a French NGO in August last year.

In a letter to ICJ chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, he said Australian expert Dr. Dodd had specifically refuted Michael Birnbaum’s Addendum which has regrettably been issued in the name of the ICJ, in saying “there is no suggestion in my mind of substitution of exhibits, and to this end I would categorically refute the suggestion in the Birnbaum Report”.

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