LTTE leaders 'tried to surrender'

NEW DELHI: Two top members of the Tamil Tigers may have been shot by their own side or executed by Sri Lankan troops while trying to surrender, according to conflicting accounts of the last days of the rebels.

Hours before the Sri Lankan defense ministry announced the entire rebel leadership had been killed, Tamil Tiger political chief B. Nadesan and Peace Secretariat head S. Pulideevan were trying to give themselves up.

On Sunday night, the pair called the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the island's former peace broker Norway, asking for the message to be passed to the Sri Lankan army, diplomats and aid officials said.