MULLAITTIVU: MILITARY Intelligence Tuesday (19) evening affirmed that LTTE Sea Tiger wing leader, SOOSAI alias THILLAIYAMPALAM SIVANESAN was also among the dead bodies that were being screened for identification, the Army Headquarters declared. LTTE's Naval Wing, established in 1984 had been contributing enormously to the sustenance of the terror outfit until most recent times. 
SRI LANKA Media, even before Sri Lanka Army officially declared the death of blood thirsty PRABHAKARAN went to town with their Tuesday (19) issues, in which banner headlines attributed their stories to various sources. Many newspapers have been sold out no sooner than they reached the news stands. Following photos depict first pages of all leading Sinhala, Tamil and English dailies where they had confirmed PRABHAKARAN’s fate. 
EAST: CLOSE on the heels of the humiliating military defeat in the north, a five-member team of Tiger terrorists who might have slipped into the eastern PERIYAPILLUMALAI area, BATTICALOA miserably failed their terrorist mission early Wednesday (20) morning at about 6.15 a.m. when 232 Brigade troops shot them down. The routine surveillance carried out daily by the troops was reaching PERIYAPILLUMALAI area when they suddenly observed a suspicious movement on the roadside. As they were taking necessary precautions, hiding gunmen suddenly opened fire towards the troops.
SECURITY alarms were automatically activated at the United Nations compound in Geneva interrupting the proceeding of the World Health Assembly (WHA) on Monday. When Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva, the newly elected President of the WHA, was presiding the plenary and the high level delegate of the United States of America was in the process of delivering the speech. According to the security division of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN in Geneva, the LTTE supporters who had been protesting outside the UN against the election of Health Minister de Silva of Sri Lanka as the President of the WHA, entered the UN compound through the main gates despite security resistance.
NATIONAL Integration Minister Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan who was at one time a close aide of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran said yesterday that the latter was always a coward, and it had now been proven. Mr. Muralitharan flew to Mullaitivu last evening to identify the body of Prabhakaran. He confirmed that it was Prabhakaran’s body.“I told the media several times that Prabhakaran was a coward. He never went to the battle front. He encouraged a lot of his cadres to swallow cyanide or carry out suicide attacks. Nevertheless, he never did it. Even at the last moment, he had tried to escape into the jungle with a small team when the army attacked him,” Mr. Muralitharan who is informally known as Karuna Amman said.
FOR A NATION that has been held captive by a bunch of inhuman terrorists for over three decades, dedication and commitment amply displayed by thousands of heroic Army troops was the only solace peace – loving people in Sri Lanka have had all this time. The country’s fate, thanks to the unmatched leadership, courage, determination and more importantly because of the commitment of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Secretary Defence Mr Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Tri Service chiefs, turned towards a momentous path of victory.
NOW THAT PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapaksa has ushered in an environment for the people to live in peace by defeating the barbaric terrorists, it is the duty of every patriotic citizens to work towards bequeathing this peaceful environment to the future generation, said the Most Ven. Udugama Sri Buddharakkitha Mahanayake Thera of the Asgiriya Chapter commenting on the victory over terrorism yesterday.
THE KARNATAKA Government has decided to step up vigil in Bangalore and the areas bordering Kerala to check the likelihood of LTTE militants infiltrating the state. Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa today convened a meeting of the Home and the Forest Departments in this regard. He asked the forest department to be on high alert on the forest range bordering Kerala in view of the intelligence reports of some LTTE cadres trying to enter that state through sea route and then to Karnataka, according to Home Minister V. S. Acharya.
INDIA will seek forensic evidence from Sri Lanka to confirm the deaths of Tamil Tigers chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his intelligence head to finally close the case on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi 18 years ago. Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman, who oversaw all covert killings in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were the last of two suspects still wanted in India for the killing of Gandhi, who was blown up by a woman suicide bomber at an election rally near Chennai May 21, 1991. The LTTE initially denied killing Gandhi but in later years some of its leaders privately and otherwise voiced regrets over his death, which led to the Tigers being outlawed in India in 1992.
PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapaksa's address to Parliament yesterday was reassuring. The defeat of the LTTE, he said, was not a defeat of the Tamil people but a great victory for them. He also answered his critics who doubt his government's commitment to eliminating the political causes of the conflict. He reiterated his desire to find a political solution but stressed that he did not wish to waste time by experimenting with remedies suggested by other countries and that the solution had to be truly autochthonous and acceptable to all communities. He got it right in that all imported solutions have failed in this country. We have to adopt a homegrown solution with the concurrence of the stakeholders concerned.
