leader Sri Sabaratnam. Sabaratnam went on the run, fleeing from TELO's main base in Kalviyankadu to Neervely, then to Kopay and finally to Kondavil. The LTTE found out that he was in Kondavil and they, led by Kittu, cordoned off the area and started a house-to-house search, using loud hailers to warn local residents not to shelter Sabaratnam. On 6 May 1986 the LTTE discovered Sabaratnam in a tobacco field and Kittu shot him in the leg to prevent him escaping. Sabaratnam pleaded with Kittu for his life but Kittu shot him using a machine gun. Sabaratnam's bullet ridden body was displayed at Kondavil bus stand before being handed over to his family. Kittu's ruthless side was tempered by respect for enemies whom he considered to be brave. During the 1986 siege of Jaffna fort, Kittu met with Captain Jayanath Kotelawala, whom he considered to be brave, several times and arranged for firewood and mangoes to be provided for soldiers trapped inside the fort. Kittu met Vijaya Kumaranatunga, Sinhalese actor and leftist politician, in Jaffna in October 1986. Kittu led the LTTE's delegation in the short lived peace talks with the Sri Lankan government in Kankesanthurai in December 1986. On 13 March 1987 Kittu was travelling in a jeep to meet his girlfriend Cynthia, a medical student at the University of Jaffna, when, on Second Cross Street, Jaffna a gunman fired at the jeep and threw a grenade inside it. Two of Kittu's bodyguards were killed and a third injured seriously. Kittu's right leg was seriously damaged and had to be amputated. As a result, his military career came to an end. The LTTE blamed rival militant groups Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front and TELO for the attempted assassination and quickly "rounded up" members of these groups. Kittu then re-located to Madras where took charge of the LTTE's propaganda office. During the LTTE-India conflict in Sri Lanka Kittu met with Research and Analysis Wing agents for talks aimed at bringing peace and implementing the Indo-Lanka Accord. Kittu sent LTTE cadre Johny back to Sri Lanka to get instructions from Prabhakaran who was operating from the Vanni jungles. However, Johny was ambushed by the Indian Peace Keeping Force and killed. The LTTE-India talks collapsed and in August 1988 twelve LTTE offices in Tamil Nadu were closed and 154 LTTE activists, including Kittu, were arrested. The LTTE activists threatened to launch a