Elusive Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai 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.
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 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 duo, most of the time, are hiding in an underground bunker," the Sri Lankan 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 Ministry said in a report
on its website.
The report said the escaped civilians had told the army that Prabhakaran and Charles come out of the bunker in non-military attire to speak to the civilians.
"But they had said they were always surrounded by heavily armed special bodyguards," the ministry 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 Ministry quoted terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratne as saying: "Prabhakaran can leave the country. 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. "And Prabhakaran is a proclaimed offender in the Rajiv Gandhi case. So, certainly he will not survive for more than a year. If he leaves Sri Lanka he will be killed."