Tamil news presenter Shoba was shown shot and killed in amateur video filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers and obtained by the U.K.'s Channel 4. Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka said Shoba died in the town of Mullivaikkal in the northeastern "no fire zone."
Shoba, who went by one name, also reported under the name Isaipriya or Isaippiriya for the media division of the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), including the videomagazine O'liveechchu, according to Channel 4 and the pro-LTTE TamilNet news website. The manner of Shoba's death is not known, although several point-blank executions of bound prisoners were filmed in the same location. Channel 4 reporter Jon Snow said in the documentary film, "Sri Lanka's Killing Fields," that Shoba's body was found among some that "appear to have been raped or sexually assaulted, and then murdered."
The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense described Shoba as Lt. Col. Issei Piriya, a Tamil Tigers communications leader killed during battle by its 53 Division troops on May 18, one day before the government announced victory. Although Channel 4 said the footage had been authenticated by the U.N., the Sri Lankan government denounced the videos as fake.
Both TamilNet and Channel 4 described Shoba, 27, as a working journalist.