Air strikes of a meeting of top rebel leaders kill S.P. Tamilselvan, the head of the LTTE’s political wing, and five others.
Source
Sri Lankan air force kills Tamil Tigers leader, The Guardian, 2 November 2007; Air raid kills top Tamil Tiger, The Independent, 2 November 2007; Sri Lankan air force raid kills Tamil Tiger political chief, Jane’s, 5 November 2007.
Quotations
“With deep sorrow we announce to the people of Tamil Eelam, the Tamil people living all over the world and the international community, that at 6am today [the] head of our organisation’s political wing Brigadier SP Thamilselvan was killed by the Sri Lankan air force aerial bombing”. LTTE website
“This is a message that we know their leaders’ location. This confirms that our information is very accurate”. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan Defence Secretary.
“The loss of Thamilselvan in this way would be a very big setback to any hope of peace talks in the near future – which in any case were not apparent either”. Jehan Perera, National Peace Council.
“Tamilselvan first rose to prominence when he played an influential role in the 1995 peace negotiations with the government of then president Chandrika Kumaratunga. The former head of the political wing subsequently played a key role in all the peace processes, although the LTTE’s chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, who died last year, remained the international face of the rebel group. Indeed, the significance of Thamilselvan’s death is arguably comparable to the assassination of Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in 2005,” Jane’s, Sri Lankan air force raid kills Tamil Tiger political chief, 5 November 2007.
Related events
