Tiger senior officers killed, according to Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, Sri Lankan military spokesman included Balasingham Nadesan, head of LTTE political wing, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, secretary-general of LTTE peace secretariat and S. Ramesh, the separatists' eastern leader. Others are Prabhakaran's deputies - Soosai, the leader of the Sea Tigers, and Pottu Amman, LTTE's intelligence chief.

There are conflicting reports on how Prabhakaran was killed. One account had it that Sri Lankan forces fired a RPG at an ambulance carrying Prabhakaran and two other senior officers. Others reported him shot dead trying to flee. Prabhakaran's body was early Tuesday identified in the 'No Fire Zone' by Col Karuna, LTTE ex-commander of Eastern Region. Karuna fell out with Prabhakaran in 2004 after which he crossed sides to Sri Lanka and is currently a federal minister.

"The body is of Prabhakaran's... There is no doubt about this... Though I am bit saddened that he is no more but the fact is he never listened to anyone. He always believed that violence is the only solution," Karuna was quote as telling reporters after his identification of the body. He continued, "Velupillai Prabhakaran met with a violent death as he ignored pleas to shun violence and join the mainstream by rejecting recent overtures from the Government for a peaceful settlement. He is the same.. There is no change in his body. He met with this fate for his own deeds."

Sri Lankan TV stations aired video of Prabhakaran's corpse in distinctive Tiger stripe camouflage uniform, with Sri Lankan soldiers surrounding it. A blue cloth covered the top of the head, which appeared blown off. The faced looked much like Prabhakaran's with his trademark moustache, big and bulging eyes. The video also showed a Tamil Tiger army ID tag with the number 001( Prabhakaran's ID no. in the army ) and a LTTE identity card with his photograph.

Tamil Tigers fought for 26 years for a separate homeland for Tamils to be known as Tamil Eelam, accusing the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government of Marginalization of Tamils. The conflict took over 70,000 lives with 6000 in the last four months of the turmoil and hundreds of thousands displaced.Tamil Tigers for the greater part of the conflict controlled a fifth of Sri Lanka in the Tamil populated areas of the island nation. Until their defeat, they ran a shadow government with all instruments of a nation which included, courts, police, army, navy, air force and tax system.

Photo Above: Body of Tamil leader, Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

Photo Above: Body of Prabhakaran's son, Charles Anthony.