Lanka dismisses Tamil leader's claim

Sri Lanka on Monday dismissed as a "joke" a top Tamil nationalist leader's claim that LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran, who was killed in 2009 by the island nation's military, was still alive. Pazha Nedumaran, a noted nationalist leader in Tamil Nadu, told reporters in Thanjavur that the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) "is doing well" and a "conducive atmosphere prevails for him to appear now." Sri Lanka's defence ministry dismissed Nedumaran's claim as a joke. "It is confirmed that he was killed on 19 May 2009. The DNA has proved it,” Colonel Nalin Herath, Sri Lanka's defence ministry spokesman said.