The leader of the separatist LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, committed suicide by shooting himself with a pistol, former LTTE military leader Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman reportedly told an Indian TV channel.

 

Taking part in an interview on the Tamil TV channel Puthiyathalamurai, Muralitharan said that the wife and the daughter of Prabhakaran were killed by shell-fire.

 

Muralidaran praised Prebhakaran for his commitment but added that the LTTE was defeated due to its tactics during the last years. If it had fought a guerilla battle, the LTTE would not have lost, he argued. Instead, the LTTE fought as a conventional army and was defeated, Muralitharan said.

 

He added that it was wrong to insult Prabhakaran by saying that he was arrested and brought to former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Prabhakaran is not a person who would have wanted to be taken alive, Muralitharan said.