Sri Lanka reaches out to minority after declaring victory

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka's president declared his country "liberated from separatist terror" Tuesday as state television broadcast images of the Tamil Tiger rebel leader's body after it was recovered from the battlefield.

But in his victory address to parliament, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appeared to reach out to the minority Tamils, for whom the rebels had said they were trying to carve out a homeland. He also alluded to promises to forge a power-sharing agreement with them.

"Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip of the [rebels]. We all must now live as equals in this free country," he said, briefly speaking in the Tamil language.

Meanwhile, TV footage showed a bloated body resembling the rebel leader, still dressed in a dark green camouflage uniform, laid out on a stretcher on the grass. A blue cloth rested on top of his head, apparently to cover a bullet wound. His open eyes stared straight up.

"A few hours ago, the body of terrorist leader [Velupillai] Prabhakaran, who ruined this country, was found on the battleground," army chief Gen. Sarath Fonseka told state television.

Prabhakaran's body was later identified by Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, a former rebel commander known as Col. Karuna, who defected from the group and is now a government minister, the government said in a statement.

Defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said they government might conduct a DNA test as well. He declined to reveal what the plans were for the disposal of the body.

The death of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers, would make it far more difficult for the rebel movement to re-form and continue its nearly three decade separatist war.

Speaking before the announcement, a rebel official abroad denied Prabhakaran was killed and said the Tamil Tiger leader was in a safe place.

'Completely liberated'

With the war on the northern battlefields over, Rajapaksa delivered a victory address to parliament early Tuesday.

Recounting how the rebels once controlled a wide swath of the north and east, Rajapaksa said that for the first time in 30 years, the country was unified under its elected government.

"Our motherland has been completely liberated from separatist terrorism," he said, declaring today a national holiday.

The rebels, listed as terrorists by the U.S. and European Union, had been fighting for a homeland for the mainly Hindu Tamil minority after decades of marginalization at the hands of governments dominated by the Buddhist Sinhalese majority. Tamils make up nearly 20 percent of the country's 20 million people. About 75 percent are Sinhalese.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday he was relieved the war appeared to be over but that he wanted the government to address the "concerns and aspirations" of the Tamils. The U.N. Human Rights Council is to meet Monday on Sri Lanka.

"We urgently need to treat the wounds of a war that has alienated the communities on the island for almost three decades," said Ban, who is planning to travel to Sri Lanka on Friday.

In New York, the Committee to Protect Journalists called for the release of three Sri Lankan doctors who treated wounded civilians in the country's war zone and were detained on accusations they gave false information about the casualties to the media.

"This is a chilling example of the intentions of the Sri Lanka government as it pursues its all out military solution in dealing with the (rebels)," said Bob Dietz, the group