Final battle close: LTTE leader stays in, but his family sent abroad
Colombo,
Feb 22 (PTI) LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran's wife and two children have
left Sri Lanka as the government troops zero in on the last pockets of the Tiger
rebels, a report said today. "Intelligence agencies say that Prabhakaran
is still in this area, but that his wife Madhivadani, daughter Dwarakarnam and
youngest son Balachnadran have fled the country," the "Lakbima
News" reported.
According to information obtained by a Tiger suicide cadre arrested around a
month ago, Prabhakaran's eldest son Charles Anthony is also in
Puthukkudiyiruppu. Pictures released yesterday of Prabhakaran, flanked by the
two pilots who flew the LTTE aircraft on a suicide mission to Colombo on
Friday, have put to rest the speculation that the rebel leader has been killed
in the Army offensive.
The Tigers will attempt to delay the army's capture of their remaining pockets
for as long as possible to allow the Tiger leader to escape, the newspaper
quoted a senior military official as saying. "However, the army
headquarters has decided to accelerate the pace of the military forward
march," it said. One of the arrested suicide cadres recently told the
state owned Sunday Observer that Prabhakaran was still in the embattled Wanni
in the North. PTI
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