Only 3 LTTE leaders, other than Prabhakaran and his wife, knew of his whereabouts. Other than his son Charles Anthony, the only other LTTE leaders who knew where he was was Poddu Ammaan, the Intelligence Chief and the head of the LTTE`s Medical Unit, Reagan. Therer's a lesson to be learned here. It's pretty obvious to some of us, but it's a lesson.
The latter was taken in and detained for days until Military Intelligence got hold of him. Until then Regan had pretended he did not know Prabhakaran`s whereabouts.
Did they use giggle juice? Or did they go for his pinky nails with electricians' pliers? Or some combination thereof?
Thanks to Reagan`s information, MI officers had clearly identified Prabhakaran`s lair by 16th evening/17th dawn.
It probably wasn't waterboarding. That takes too long. And there have been dozens of instant experts on the news channels to tell us that it doesn't work.
They uncovered an elaborate plan by Prabhakaran and gang to breach the 53 FDL. The plan was to cross the lagoon to Mullaitivu-Weli Oya Jungles, from there to reach the Eastern Province (Batticaloa/Ampara) via Trincomalee, where `Colonel` Ram`s team was waiting.
"53 FDL" = 53rd division forward defense line
'Colonel' Ram's team'='dead meat'
Within hours of this warning, on 17th May at dawn, Tigers had started their final operation. A daring sea borne operation was launched. All Army Divisions, forewarned, reacted swiftly but the Tigers managed to breach the FDL of the 53 Division at its weakest and take-out several bunkers killing 15 SLA. They also seized an Army Ambulance.
Very rare to see any mention of SLA casualties in the press. I suppose it's fitting for the Tigers' last-gasp attack.
Tiger ambos were suspect, of course. Too obvious a place for Porky to bravely hide.
Moments later, the 53 Division retaliated. A hail of RPG HEAT/Thermobaric rockets were fired. Around 200 LTTE cadres had died in the attack. 30 bodies were reduced to ashes. Limbs of the LTTE`s best were scattered all over the place. The captured ambulance was also hit in the melee and burnt swiftly.
Chock full of O2 bottles? Or ammunition?
It was upon investigating the ambulance that 3 bodies, one of which resembled Prabhakaran`s body structure was discovered.
"Sergeant! One of these guys is really fat!"
"Don't suppose he's got a moustache like Super Mario, does he?"
The body was blackened and beyond facial/physical recognition. But the Army knew it may very well be Prabhakaran. There was no other way for him to escape.
And few among the Tigers lugged that much acreage around with them...
Prabhakaran should have been killed either in the box-in by the Special Forces, the retaliation by the 53 or he should have died injured somewhere along the lagoon. The closest to his remains have been found only inside the charred ambulance. One of the hardcore cadres captured alive in the attack claimed Prabhakaran was shot and injured in the fight. But he had heard it from an eyewitness, another hardcore cadre who was killed.
So was it Porky? Or Junior? The picture al-Jizz ran described that body as Junior -- and it wasn't scorched, though he did have dirt in his mouth.
The charred bodies, including the one believed to be Prabhakaran were captured by the 53 Division, but were taken away by another Division.
Some 400 bodies were captured by the Army. 1,2, and 5 Special Forces led the clearing operation. The remains may include, in future, missing leaders from the list publicized by the government such as Lawrence, Karikalan, Papa, Ilanthirayan etc. The remains of top leaders like Poddu, Bhanu and Soosei were identified. Soosei was fighting till 17th evening until the Special Forces rid him of his mysery once and for all. He and Swarnam were the last brave LTTE leaders who held their ground and fought while others were trying to flee the scene.
The fate of the `missing` tiger leaders from the publicized government list will be `filled` in due course!
