Sri Lanka's authorities declared today that they have ended the 26 year old bitter battle between the the government and the Tamil Tiger rebel group, LTTE. The army claims that the final cleanup is finished with the killing of top heads of the rebel group including chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The rebel group had formed claiming to protect the country's Tamil minority from discrimination at the hands of the successive Sinhalese majority governments that have ruled the country since independence. The rebel group had established their own land and had occupied the northern and eastern part of the country. They had their own courts and police force in the occuped areas.

The organization was also well known for sucide attacks. The popular victims included Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa and the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Celebrations in Sri Lanka

The news brought happiness to a lot of people in Sri Lanka. In Colombo people could be seen on the streets singing and dancing.

Prabhakaran's End

Senior military officials said troops closed in on Prabhakaran and his final cadre early Monday.

He and his top deputies then drove an armor-plated van accompanied by a bus filled with rebel fighters toward approaching Sri Lankan forces, sparking a two-hour firefight, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Troops eventually fired a rocket at the van, ending the battle, they said. In addition to Prabhakaran, the attack also killed Soosai, the head of the rebels' naval wing, and Pottu Amman, the group's feared intelligence commander, the officials said. One of Prabhakaran's sons was also killed, the military said.

 

Source: www.google.com

 Who are/were these Tamil Tigers or LTTE? (from wikipedia)

 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; commonly known as the LTTE or the Tamil Tigers) is a militant organization based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976, it has actively waged a violent secessionist campaign that seeks to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka.This campaign had evolved into the Sri Lankan Civil War, one of the longest running armed conflicts in Asia, until the LTTE was militarily defeated by the Sri Lanka Army under the government of Mahinda Rajapakse in May 2009.Since its formation, the LTTE has been headed by its founder, Velupillai Prabhakaran. The Tamil Tigers are currently proscribed as a terrorist organization by 32 countries (see list of countries).

The Tamil Tigers claimed to be fighting to protect the country's Tamil minority from discrimination at the hands of the successive Sinhalese majority governments that have ruled the country since independence. They have extensive support amongst the Tamil diaspora and Tamils in Tamil Nadu, India.

The Tigers, who during the height of their power possessed a well-developed militia cadre, are notorious for having committed atrocities against civilians, including abductions and targeted attacks,for carrying out various high profile attacks, including the assassinations of several high-ranking Sri Lankan and Indian politicians like Rajiv Gandhi, and for recruiting child soldiers. The LTTE invented the suicide belt and pioneered the use of suicide bombing as a tactic. They also pioneered the use of women in suicide attacks, and have also used aircraft in some attacks.

Over the course of the conflict, the Tamil Tigers frequently exchanged control of territory in north-east Sri Lanka with the Sri Lankan military, engaging in fierce confrontations in the process. They were also involved in peace talks to end the conflict four times, each time unsuccessfully, and at the start of the last round of peace talks in 2002, they had a large area under their control. However, after the breakdown of the peace process in 2006, the Sri Lankan military launched a major offensive against the Tamil Tigers, bringing a vast area under their control and limiting the Tigers to a 1.5 km2 area in the Mullaithivu District.

As a result of this offensive, the Sri Lankan government defeated the LTTE militarily. Amid growing calls for the LTTE to surrender, President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared military victory over the Tigers on May 16, 2009 after 26 years of conflict and the rebel leader Prabhakaran was reported to have been killed by Government forces.The LTTE finally admitted defeat on May 17, 2009, with the rebels' chief of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, stating on the website that "This battle has reached its bitter end ... We have decided to silence our guns. Our only regrets are for the lives lost and that we could not hold out for longer".