Prabhakaran's mansion captured

3 Feb 2009

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan troops operating in Mullaitivu district have captured a palatial mansion believed to have been used by the Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, the army said here on Monday.

“A two-acre plot of land that houses a luxurious two-storeyed residential quarter, believed to have been used by none other than Prabhakaran himself was completely brought under the control of 58 Division troops as of late Sunday evening,” the Sri Lankan army said.

It said that the two-storeyed fully furnished residential mansion with four separately air conditioned spacious rooms “had a firing range outside the building, which the troops believe would have been used for training by Prabhakaran himself or his top-rung leaders whenever he visited here”.

It said that the house was provided electricity with three super sound generators and the entire house floor has been tiled with ceramics. All roads leading to the housing site were macadam and well prepared with nice landscaping, it said.

“The suspicion of Prabhakaran frequenting the place was further strengthened by the fact that the troops came across an expensive ‘Marks & Spencer’ shirt of 42-1/2 cm size, which is also said to be the shirt size of the terrorist leader,” the army said, adding that several oxygen tanks were also recovered from there.

Prabhakaran, who founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1976, is known to have deep and seemingly secure underground caves and bunkers in the dense forests of Mullaitivu, from where he oversaw the war against Indian troops in Sri Lanka’s north-east in 1987-90. However, the present whereabouts of the elusive rebel chief are not known.