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Sri Lankan rebels vows to continue "liberation struggle"

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Nov 5, IRNA

Vowing to continue the "liberation struggle" despite the death of LTTE's political head S P Thamilselvan in an aerial raid, Tamil Tigers' elusive supreme V Prabhakaran has said Sri Lankan security forces "cruelly killed the peace dove" by targeting the outfit's senior leader.

The struggle of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was "moving on like a lengthy river of blaze," he said in a statement following Thamilselvan's killing in the raid by the Sri Lankan Air Force on a gathering of high-profile rebel leaders in northern Kilinochchi on Friday, Indian national TV news portal reported here.

"In this new form, he (Thamilselvan) has set alight in our heavy hearts a deep yearning for the goal (of freedom)... He has nourished that yearning. Strengthened by his nourishment, we will continue to travel on our path towards the goal with renewed determination." The Tiger supremo said that "we do not see the Buddhist universal love. Sinhala nation (Sri Lanka) did not open its heart and send a peace message. On the contrary, it is sending war-vultures that are dropping giant bombs. It has cruelly killed our peace dove." He said that despite the repeated and continuous calls from the international community to find a peaceful resolution to the "Tamil national question, we have not seen any goodwill from the Sinhala nation."

Earlier on Saturday, P Nadesan, LTTE's police chief, was appointed the new head of the outfit's political wing to succeed the slain rebel leader S P Thamilselvan, who was honoured by the elusive Tiger Supremo V Prabhakaran hours after he was killed in a raid by the Sri Lankan Air Force.

Sri Lankan Defence Ministry, meanwhile, said that ongoing fighting with the rebels in the island's embattled north claimed lives of two rebels on Friday while security forces captured a line of bunkers from the LTTE near an irrigation reservoir. The guerrillas denied losing their territory.

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