Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka - The leader of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers is trapped in a small strip of coastal jungle in the north-east and leading his last remaining fighters, a top army commander said on Friday.
The commander said a rebel spokesperson who surrendered to government troops earlier in the week reported that Velupillai Prabhakaran, 54, was preparing to put up a final stand of his cornered and outnumbered separatist army.
The Tamil Tiger spokesperson "says that Prabhakaran was living inside and that he will be there until the last moment," Brigadier Shavendra Silva told reporters.
"But, even at the last minute, he will try to escape," said the commander, who is spearheading the attack on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Silva told reporters flown to the former Tiger capital of Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres north of Colombo, that there were many guerrillas who wanted to surrender.
The army says the remnants of the LTTE are confined to a 10 square kilometre strip of coastline along with thousands of civilians.
Journalists flown to Kilinochchi were shown a large haul of mortars and small arms said to have been captured from the Tigers in recent battles.
Brigadier Silva said his unit had killed 5 953 Tiger fighters and wounded another 2 938 since September 2007, when a Norwegian-backed truce began to collapse.
He did not give corresponding military casualties. - Sapa-AFP