S. P. Thamilselvan

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S. P. Thamilselvan (Tamil: சு ப தமிழ்ச்செல்வன்)
August 29, 1967 - November 2, 2007
Place of birth	Chavakacheri, Sri Lanka
Place of death	Kilinochchi
Years of service	1983–2007
Rank	second in command^[1]

Suppayya Paramu Tamilselvan, commonly known as S. P. Tamilselvan, (sometimes transscribed as "Tamilchelvan"), (August 29, 1967 – 2 November 2007)^[2] (Tamil: சு ப தமிழ்ச்செல்வன்) was the leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, chief negotiator and second in command to LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.^[3]^[4]

[edit] Biography

Tamilchelvan, who was born in Chavakacheri, Jaffna in 1967, joined the LTTE in 1984,^[2]^[5]. At one point, he was the personal bodyguard for the LTTE's leader, Vellupillai Prabhakaran. He became 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 walks 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 widely outlawed as a terrorist organisation. 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.

[edit] Death

Thamilselvan, along with 5 other tamil tigers were killed on November 2, 2007 as a result of an air strike launched by the Sri Lanka Air Force against a meeting place of Tamil Tiger leaders in Kilinochchi.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]