Sri Lankan rebel leader 'is dead'

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

The leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels, Velupillai Prabhakaran, is dead, Sri Lankan state television has said.

The announcement came shortly after the military said it had surrounded Prabhakaran and about 200 rebels in a tiny patch of jungle in the north-east.

The claim cannot be verified as reporters are barred from the war zone.

Sri Lankan forces had routed the rebels in the past few weeks, over-running their territory and bringing the 26-year war to its conclusion.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/8055015.stm

[bemildred]

1. Damn shame, that.

:sarcasm:

[Posteritatis]

2. Looks like that's (approximately) that, then (nt)

[ohio2007]

3. turn out the lights....

[grantcart]

4. This makes me very very happy

I think that the Sri Lankan has tried everything and finally just went for the military only option.


Now I hope that all Sri Lankans can be reconciled.

[ButterflyBlood]

5. Here's something to be happy about

The Sri Lankan government is far from perfect as they've proven lately, but that guy was one real murderous piece of shit. Here's to hoping for peace on that island finally.

[Alamuti Lotus]

10. "far from perfect" but somehow still falling within acceptable limits

Thousands are slaughtered within a span of a few weeks, and they're partying in Columbo -- their government shells hospitals (and anything else) and keeps thousands in barbed-wire surrounded concentration camps, how is somehow a formula for peace?

[4dsc]

6. and the genocides continues

So will stop the killing of innocent Tamil across Sri Lanka?? Of course not..

[Mudoria]

7. I doubt the Tamil's will ever accept their status in Sri Lanka

No oppressed minority ever does.

[hugo_from_TN]

8. 'dead' or dead?

Guess the Beeb doesn't want to jump the gun.

[Posteritatis]

9. BBC uses quotes differently than American media does

If it's a direct quote at all, they use the marks. Someone they were getting information from said the word dead, so they put the punctuation in place. Some pretty mundane things wind up in quotes as a result.

If you look around BBC articles they use quote marks vastly, vastly more often than news on this side of the pond, mainly because they're far stricter about when they can and can't use them.