New Delhi: In a major setback to the LTTE, the head of its intelligence, 'Colonel' Charles, was killed in a Sri Lankan Army attack in northwestern Mannar, two months after the rebels' political wing chief S P Thamilselvan died in an Air Force raid.
"Col Charles, Head of Liberation Tigers Army Intelligence, was killed on Saturday evening in a random Claymore attack by Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit in Pallamadu in Mannaar," sources close to the LTTE in Vanni were quoted as saying by the pro-rebel Tamilnet website on Sunday.
Charles, who was in-charge of internal intelligence within the ranks of LTTE ground forces, "was killed along with three LTTE lieutenants in the ambush while they were travelling in a van," it said.
Confirming the fatal attack, the Eeelam People's Democratic Party chief and Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda said the death of Charles was a "setback" to LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran.
Charles had led an external operations corps of LTTE as well as a regular combat force deployed in Mannar district, Tamilnet said.
Other LTTE cadres killed in the ambush were identified as Sukanthan (Sivapalan Sreetharan) from Jeyapuram, Veeramaravan (Pararajasingham Suthan) from Mallaavi and Kalaa (Sinnaththamby Kangatharan) from Vaddakkachchi.
Charles was the second high-profile LTTE figure who had been killed by the Sri Lankan security forces in the recent times.
The death comes just days after Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government announced it was formally cancelling a tattered 2002 truce with the rebels.
Analysts expect this to lead to a bloody intensification of a conflict that has killed around 70,000 people since 1983.
Nordic ceasefire monitors are wrapping up their six-year mission after the government gave 14 days notice last Wednesday that it was ending the ceasefire, which broke down on the ground almost as soon as Rajapaksa came to power in late 2005.
Well over 5,000 people have been killed since then in now near-daily air strikes, land and sea clashes and ambushes. That means the gloves come fully off on January 16. The end of the truce dashes hopes of resurrecting collapsed peace talks any time soon.
The government opted to cancel the ceasefire after a series of deadly bombings blamed on the rebels, who are fighting for an independent state in north and east Sri Lanka. It argued that the insurgents, widely outlawed as a terrorist group, had used the pact to regroup and rearm, had violated the terms thousands of times and refused to talk peace sincerely.
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