COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 18 (UPI) -- Sri Lankan Tamil rebels, denying their leader has been killed, said Tuesday the military committed a crime against humanity by killing its other leaders.
"While rejecting Colombo's claim of the killing of LTTE leader (Vellupillai Prabhakaran) and assuring his safety and well-being, " rebel spokesman S. Pathmanathan Tuesday "accused Colombo of treachery in the killing of the political wing leaders," the rebels Web site TamilNet said.
Pathmanathan said the killing of the other leaders "is a crime against humanity that needs to be investigated."
As the Sri Lankan government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa rejoiced in what it claimed as its final victory over the rebels, known as the LTTE, CNN reported humanitarian aid agencies prepared to offer help to the tens of thousands of civilians in the island nation's war zone.
The United Nations, using the latest influx of people leaving the war zone, has estimated that up to 265,000 had been displaced by the violence.
"The conventional war may be over but the real challenge now is to foster an environment where fractured and displaced Tamil communities can heal and have a real chance at creating a future for themselves and their children," CNN quoted Suresh Bartlett with the World Vision aid agency, as saying.
The TamilNet report said Prabhakaran "will continue to lead the quest for dignity and freedom for the Tamil people."
The Sri Lankan government Web site said its defense sources had reported the bodies of Prabhakaran and LTTE's intelligence wing leader Pottu Amman were "among those killed while trying to flee the advancing troops." Prabhakaran's son Charles Anthony also was reported killed.
The BBC reported European Union foreign ministers have called for an investigation of alleged war crimes by both sides.
