Suppayya Paramu Tamilselvan, commonly known as S. P. Tamilselvan, (sometimes transscribed as "Tamilchelvan"), [2] was the leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a rebel organisation fighting for an independant homeland for the ethnic tamil minority in nothern Sri Lanka. He was chief negotiator and second in command to rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.[3][4]
Biography
Thamilselvan, who was born in Chavakacheri, Jaffna in 1967, joined the rebel movement in 1984,[2][5]. At one point, he was the personal bodyguard for the LTTE's leader, Vellupillai Prabhakaran. He became the rebel organisations area commander for Jaffna during the IPKF intervention in the late 1980s. In 1993, he suffered a shrapnel wound at the Punarin battle which left him with a permanent limp and since then he walked with the aid of a cane.[6] In 2001, he narrowly avoided being killed by the Sri Lankan Army's Deep Penetration Unit.
Thamilselvan began to rise in the movement after the capture of Jaffna city by government forces in the late 1990s. He was the international face of the separatist group led by shadowy rebel Velupillai Prabhakaran and outlawed as a terrorist organisation in number of countries. When Norway began mediating in the peace efforts, he began to become more prominent due to the worsening health of the LTTE's international spokesman, Anton Balasingham, and led the LTTE's delegation during peace talks in Geneva.
Death
Thamilselvan, along with 5 other high ranking tamil rebels were killed on November 2, 2007 by a precision air strike carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on an undisclosed location near the rebels's stronghold town of Kilinochchi.[7][8][9][10][11]
Analysts anticipated his loss would deal a sever blow to the rebel organisation.
References
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