SRI LANKA – War ended? Questions remain
18 May 2009 3:05 am

On 17 May, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
conceded defeat to the Sri Lankan army. "We have decided to silence our guns",
said Selvarasa Pathmanathan, spokesperson for the LTTE, in a statement posted
on Tamilnet.com.

On 17 May, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
conceded defeat to the Sri Lankan army. "We have decided to silence our guns",
said Selvarasa Pathmanathan, spokesperson for the LTTE, in a statement posted
on Tamilnet.com. 

Despite his words, intermittent battles were still going on the
day. After President Mahinda Rajapaksa's declaration of victory, Tamil Tigers
launched suicide attacks against the government troops. Military spokesperson,
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said, "We are doing mopping-up operations".
According to the military, the final battle was able to progress after the last
72,000 civilians freed the conflict zone.

During their "mopping-up" operations, The Sri Lankan military
stated that they found the body of Charles Anthony, 24, son of the founder and
leader of LTTE Velupillai Prabhakaran. They also found the bodies of senior officials
of the LTTE: political chief B. Nadesan, S. Puleedevan and S. Ramesh. The
forces have further stated that they would kill or capture remaining members of
the Tamil Tigers, and will perform a search for Prabhakaran today.

"We have not found him dead or alive yet, but we know what
we will do when we get him," said Military spokesperson Brigadier Nanayakkara. Tamil
Tiger spokesperson, Pathmanathan told Britain's Channel 4 that Prabhakaran is
still alive, along with 2,000 other Tamil Tigers, amid rumours that he might
have committed suicide by blowing himself up.

The Sri Lankan government has stated that they have now
"rescued" up to 251,861 civilians since yesterday, and saw the entry of 12,953
civilians from the cleared conflict zone.

Also on the day the UK's Department of International
Development is giving a further 5 million pounds (7.5 USD) to aid for Sri
Lanka, coming to a total of 12.5 million pounds given this year.

While International Committee of the Red Cross and other
organisations stressed the humanitarian catastrophe seen in the country,
Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Sri Lankan Human Rights Minister said, "There was no
bloodbath as some people feared… Everybody has come out safely and they are
being looked after by the government".