11:22am UK, Monday May 18, 2009

The Sri Lankan military says it has won the final battle with Tamil Tiger separatists, putting the entire nation under government control for the first time since 1983.

Tamil Tiger rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has reportedly been killed

“Heroic troops liberated the entire area from LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), killing more than 250 Tigers a while ago,” an official at the state-run Media Centre for National Security said.

Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said: “We have liberated the entire country by completely liberating the north from the terrorists.

“We have gained full control of LTTE-held areas.

“Today we finished the work handed to us by the president to liberate the country from the LTTE.”

State television also announced that rebel chief Velupillai Prabhakaran had been killed along with his two top deputies as they tried to escape from government troops in an ambulance.

“It was confirmed Prabhakaran was killed when trying to flee in an ambulance before dawn,” a military source said on condition of anonymity.

“We are waiting for the official announcement by the president.”

Four others sources confirmed the account but there has been no official comment from the military.

State TV has broadcast what it said were images of the corpse of Prabhakaran’s son and heir apparent, Charles Anthony, for the first time.

“This very feared and ruthless ruler of the Tamil Tigers for more than three decades was trying to escape from the war zone with two key lieutenants,” Sky correspondent Alex Crawford said.

“As they sped out of the war zone they were fired on by troops and all three were killed, say unnamed military sources.”

The military will be keen to portray Prabhakaran as a “coward running away from troops”, added Crawford.

Earlier, more than 1,000 Sri Lankans gathered to protest outside the British High Commission in Colombo.

Some threw rocks, breaking windows as others hurled a burning effigy of Britain’s foreign secretary David Miliband over the compound’s wall.

Mr Miliband has been critical of the Sri Lankan government’s prosecution of the war and Britain has backed calls for a war crimes probe.

Over the weekend, the Tamil Tigers announced they were laying down their arms after a 26-year fight for an independent homeland.