The Ceylon News

Beleaguered LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and his top commander Pottu Amman were hiding in an area in the last rebel bastion of Pudukudiyirippu but hastily retreated from there just before it was surrounded by Sri Lankan forces, a top military officer said.

"They have hastily retreated from the area once they got the news that troops were going to surround that area," the state run Daily News quoted General Officer Commanding the 58 Division Brigadier Shavendra Silva as saying.

The Army believes the two top rebel leaders would be within the vicinity of the surrounding troops even as the security forces recovered a damaged bullet proof limousine belonging to Prabhakaran as they pushed deeper into the region to capture the remaining rebel pockets.

According to Brigadier Silva, the LTTE is now being directly led by Pottu Amman in confrontation with the advancing Sri Lankan forces.

Earlier reports said Prabhakaran and his son Charles Anthony are believed to be hiding in deep bunkers in the rebel-held Pudukudiyyirippu area and come out occasionally to tell the civilians not to leave their homes.

Anthony subsequently got injured in the attacks by the security forces and is now under treatment, the Army claimed.

LTTE commander-turned-politician V Muralidaran alias Karuna Amman believes Prabhakaran cannot escape to any other country as the concerned authorities would not permit him.

Karuna, who split from the LTTE in 2004 following differences with Prabhakaran and formed the Tamil Makkal Vidhuthalai Pullikal, today said he felt LTTE chief will be arrested if he escapes to India.

Eelam People's Democratic Front leader Douglas Devananda, who has escaped several assassination attempts by the LTTE, said Prabhakaran has been almost cornered.

"Prabhakaran has already tried shifting from one bunker to another or from one hiding place to the next in Wanni. But he cannot escape from the country," Devananda said.

Meanwhile, Prabhakaran and Charles, who is believed to be the head of the Air Tigers, were spotted in the No Fire Zone in Pudukudiyyirippu in non-military attire recently and the duo come out occasionally to mix with civilians.

The LTTE leader has been seen with his son Charles Anthony Seelan in public, the Defence Ministry said quoting sources.

The Army sources, quoting Tamil civilians who have escaped the area, said both of them have from time to time have come out from the bunkers and explained to the non-cadres of the LTTE the importance of rising up against the government forces.

The LTTE chief and his son are always surrounded by heavily armed special bodyguards, the Army said.

It said Prabhakaran will try not to leave the Sri Lankan shores right now as he would rather prefer to create a humanitarian crisis into his favour by harming the civilians and imposing a ceasefire that would benefit him.

The defence ministry quoted terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratne as saying that Prabhakaran can perhaps manage to escape from Sri Lanka.

But he will become extremely vulnerable if he leaves Sri Lanka because he is in the Interpol's red notice and he is wanted by most governments in the world, Gunaratne said.

"Prabhakaran is a proclaimed offender in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. So, certainly he will not survive for more than a year. If he leaves Sri Lanka, he will be killed," the expert said.