Prabhakaran warns deserters

COLOMBO, APRIL 1. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief, Mr. Velupillai Prabhakaran, has warned that the cadre who surrender to the armed forces will be hunted down and killed.

A special LTTE intelligence unit has been detailed for locating the deserters and eliminating them, the Tiger chief told a gathering at a camp near Mallavi, The Island said, quoting sources in northern Vanni.

The warning sent the message that the deserters would be killed irrespective of where they settled down in the Government- controlled part of Sri Lanka.

It was also applicable to members of the LTTE pistol squad, which had operated with some success in towns like Trincomalee, Batticaloa and the Jaffna peninsula, working singly and assassinating targetted people, the report said.

The Government recently released a list of 17 LTTE cadre who had surrendered to the security forces. Those who surrender are usually sent to Government rehabilitation camps, where they are taught skills to join the mainstream.

They are then handed over to their family members, living in Government- controlled areas. They are not given any protection and mix up with the civilians, making it difficult for the LTTE to trace them.

Mr. Prabhakaran is believed to be worried about the morale among his cadre which has hit rock bottom in the past 12 months.

The LTTE has lost all major battles in the north-east since its failed bid to capture Jaffna.

Its recruitment drives during the past year failed miserably with less than 600 new recruits joining voluntarily, sources said. And the Tigers have lost more than 1,500 cadre who have either been killed or severely wounded, depleting their ranks.

- UNI

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