The Hindu : Front Page : Thamilchelvan killed in air raid

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Saturday, Nov 03, 2007
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Thamilchelvan killed in air raid

B. Muralidhar Reddy

A major “political and moral blow” to LTTE

Photo: AFP

A file photograph of Thamilchelvan. —

COLOMBO: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s “Political Division” chief Thamilchelvan was killed on Friday in an attack by the Sri Lanka Air Force on Kilinochchi, Tigers’ administrative headquarters. Five self-styled officers of the LTTE “military” were also killed in the raid at 6 a.m.

The killings were confirmed by the organisation six-and-half hours after the raid. While the military insisted that Mr. Thamilchelvan was at a “gathering place of LTTE leaders” targeted by the Air Force, TamilNet said the six were killed in an air raid on their “residences.”

The killing of Mr. Thamilchelvan (40) is seen by political and diplomatic observers as a major “political and moral blow” to the LTTE. They also view it as a retaliatory action by the military for the pre-dawn October 22 attack on the Anuradhapura airbase by a 21-member Tiger suicide squad that destroyed eight aircraft and claimed the lives of 14 military personnel.

Though the Air Force had been bombing “select targets” of the LTTE for months, this is the first time it has targeted a high-profile person. Even if Mr. Thamilchelvan was not the intended target, the government has clearly sought to send out a message that it would take the war right into the heart of the territory under the LTTE control.

“International” face

The LTTE’s “international” face was the negotiator and chief messenger of the outfit’s supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

After the death of the organisation’s ideologue, Anton S. Balasingham, in London in December last, Mr. Thamilchelvan was considered his successor.

He received and interacted with international visitors, who visited Sri Lanka as interlocutors on the ethnic conflict, in Kilinochchi. For over four months now, the government has virtually banned travel by “mediators” to the LTTE-controlled zone, saying it cannot guarantee their safety.

The news of the killing spread like wildfire here and raised the already surcharged atmosphere. While the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna hailed the outcome of the air raid as a major victory for the military, the Tamil National Alliance, described Mr. Thamilchelvan as a martyr of the “Tamil cause.”

The LTTE conferred “Brigadier,” the highest rank in the organisation, posthumously on Mr. Thamilchelvan. Later in the night, it announced P. Nadesan would succeed Mr. Thamilchelvan.

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