CORA

                                                                                    is watching you !

Tamil terrorism began in 1970 with the formation of a militant student body called the “Tamil Students Movement” to protest government plans to limit access of Tamil students to universities. Very soon this movement went underground and turned to overt terrorist activities.

Violence escalated in Jaffna from 1972 onwards, beginning with the publication of a new constitution seen by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) as anti-Tamil. The year 1972 saw the formation of three Tamil terrorist groups – the Tamil New Tigers (T.N.T), Tamil Ealam Liberation Organization (TELO) and the Liberation Tigers of Ealam (LTTE), all splinters groups of the original Tamil Students Movement.

In 14 May 1976 the TULF called for the first time for the formation of a separate state of Tamil Ealam covering the North and East provinces, where Tamils were in the majority.

In July 1983 countrywide riots and clashes between Sinhalese and Tamils ended with thousands of Tamils dead and several hundred thousand refugees. Large government forces were deployed in the north and east provinces. This period marks the beginning of the LTTE  guerrilla campaign against government forces.

In 1985 India began acting as mediator between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil groups. In 1987 Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandi and the Sri Lankan president signed the “Indo-SL Accord” and Indian peacekeeping forces (IPKF) landed in Jaffna to enforce the Accord. The LTTE signed the agreement and surrendered a large portion of its arms and ammunition.

The Accord collapsed in Oct 1987 and the LTTE took on both the government forces and the IPKF. In April 1989 Sri Lankan president and the LTTE agreed on cease-fire, resulting in the withdrawal of the IPKF, a process that was completed in March 1990.

With the failure of peace talks between the government and the Tamil organizations in June 1990, the government declared Ealam War II and initiated an offensive against LTTE strongholds in the north.

On 21 May 1991 Rajiv Ghandi was killed by an alleged LTTE bomb explosion in Madras, India. India retaliated by banning all LTTE activities in India.

In 1994 a new government in Sri Lanka started another round of peace talks with the Tamils. These negotiations also failed and ended in July 1995 with a new S.L army offensive – Ealam War III.

In December 1995 the S.L. army captured the city of Jaffna after a fierce 50 day offensive.

Since 1995 the LTTE has maintained an intensive guerrilla campaign against the government troops in the region.
 

Approximately 10,000 armed combatants in Sri Lanka; about 3,000 to 6,000 form a trained cadre of fighters. The LTTE also has a significant overseas support structure for fundraising, weapons procurement, and propaganda activities.

The LTTE's overt organizations support Tamil separatism by lobbying foreign governments and the United Nations. The LTTE also uses its international contacts to procure weapons, communications, and bombmaking equipment. The LTTE exploits large Tamil communities in North America, Europe, and Asia to obtain funds and supplies for its fighters in Sri Lanka. Information obtained since the mid-1980s indicates that some Tamil communities in Europe are also involved in narcotics smuggling.
 

The LTTE has integrated a battlefield insurgent strategy with a terrorist program that targets key government and military personnel, the economy, and public infrastructure. Political assassinations include the suicide bomber attacks against Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993 and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, which is the group's only known act outside Sri Lanka.

The LTTE has detonated two massive truck bombs directed against the Sri Lankan economy, one at the Central Bank in January 1996 and another at the Colombo World Trade Center in October 1997.

The LTTE has also attacked several ships in Sri Lankan waters, including foreign commercial vessels and infrastructure targets such as commuter trains, buses, oil tanks, and power stations. The LTTE prefers to attack vulnerable government facilities then withdraw before reinforcements arrive, or to time its attacks to take advantage of security lapses on holidays, at night, or in the early morning.
 

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Sri Lanka, separatists What are the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam? The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a separatist terrorist group that seeks an independent state in areas in Sri Lanka inhabited by ethnic Tamils. (Eelam means homeland in Tamil.) The LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers, have used conventional, guerrilla, and terror tactics, including some 200 suicide bombings, in a bloody, two-decade-old civil war that has claimed more than 60,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans. The U.S. State Department lists the LTTE as a foreign terrorist organization. Does the LTTE have ties to al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups?   Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam car bombing, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 1996. (AP Photo/Dexter Cruez) No. Experts say that the secular nationalist LTTE currently has no operational connection with al-Qaeda, its radical Islamist affiliates, or other terrorist groups. However, some of the Tigers’ innovations—such as the “jacket” apparatus worn by individual suicide bombers—have been copied by al-Qaeda, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, and Palestinian groups such as Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.   In its early days, experts say, the LTTE trained with the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the group may still come into contact with other terrorist organizations through the illegal arms trade. Who are the Tamils? The Tamils are an ethnic group who live in southern India (mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu) and on Sri Lanka, an island of 19 million people off the southern tip of India. Tamils comprise about 18 percent of the island’s population, and most live in northern and eastern areas. Their religion (most are Hindu) and Tamil language set them apart from the three-quarters of Sri Lankans who are Sinhalese—members of a largely Buddhist, Sinhala-speaking ethnic group. When Sri Lanka was ruled by the British, the Tamil minority was seen to have received preferential treatment. Since Sri Lanka became independent in 1948, the Sinhalese majority has dominated the country. The remainder of Sri Lanka’s population includes ethnic Muslims as well as Tamil and Sinhalese Christians. What kind of terrorist attacks have the Tigers undertaken? The LTTE is notorious for its suicide bombings. Since the late 1980s, the group has conducted some 200 suicide bombings—far more than any other terrorist group. LTTE suicide bombers have attacked civilians on mass transit, at Buddhist shrines, and in office buildings. In October 1997, a suicide truck bomb killed 18 people at the 39-story World Trade Centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital. Beyond suicide bombings, the LTTE have used conventional bombs against political and civilian targets and have gunned down both Sri Lankan officials and civilians. LTTE fighters wear cyanide capsules around their necks, so they can commit suicide if they are captured. Have the Tigers tried to assassinate major politicians? Yes. LTTE suicide attacks have targeted political leaders in Sri Lanka and India, including: the May 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at a campaign rally in India; the May 1993 assassination of Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa; the July 1999 assassination of a Sri Lankan member of parliament, Neelan Thiruchelvam, an ethnic Tamil involved in a government-sponsored peace initiative; a pair of December 1999 suicide bombings in Colombo that wounded Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga; and the June 2000 assassination of Sri Lankan Industry Minister C.V. Goonaratne.   Has the LTTE committed terrorist attacks since September 11? No. The LTTE has largely kept a ceasefire that took effect in December 2001. Experts say several factors contribute to the LTTE’s new conciliatory posture, including the international crackdown on terrorist funds, a widespread post-September 11 disdain for suicide terrorism, and dwindling support for terror among many Tamils. The LTTE forces now include growing numbers of child soldiers, which experts say may indicate that the Tigers’ potential human resources are being depleted.

BACK

HOME