According to the Sri Lankan military, the wife of Soosai, head of the Sea Tigers, had told them during interrogation that Pottu Amman, together with Soosai, Prabhakaran and Prabhakaran's son Charles Anthony, had remained in the war zone in the final days of the war. The military claimed to have killed 18 senior LTTE members, including Pottu Amman, during the final battle of the civil war on 18 May 2009. They also claimed to have intercepted LTTE communication confirming Pottu Amman's death. The military initially claimed to have identified the body of Pottu Amman but later admitted that they weren't certain that they had found his body.