Page 238 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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216———Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Sri Lanka is an island nation located off the organization has sometimes massacred innocent
southeast coast of India. Sinhalese Buddhists comprise villagers to draw Army forces away from the scene of
about 75 percent of the island’s population, while its operations.
Hindu Tamils, concentrated in the north and east of the From 1978 to 1983, the LTTE carried out spo-
country, make up roughly 15 percent. In the early radic attacks against the Sri Lankan police and
1970s, the Sri Lankan government began to place armed forces, but was unsupported by the vast major-
special emphasis on Sinhalese unity and cultural cohe- ity of Tamils. At the time, LTTE probably had, at
sion following a Marxist-led student rebellion; for most, a few hundred members. All this changed
instance, the 1972 constitution named Sinhala and in July 1983, after an attack by the LTTE on a Sri
Buddhism as the official language and religion of Lankan Army convoy sparked days of rioting across
Sri Lanka, respectively. The government’s efforts at the country in which hundreds of Tamils were killed
overcoming divisions within the Sinhalese community and tens of thousands forced to flee for their lives.
only exacerbated existing ethnic tensions between the The riots radicalized the Tamil community, and the
Sinhalese and the Tamils. The resurgence of Sinhalese LTTE soon had hundreds of recruits; by 1985 some
chauvinism sparked a comparable rise in Tamil sepa- estimated the organization to have 5,000 active
ratism, with calls for the establishment of a Tamil home- members and an additional 5,000 sympathizers and
land, called Eelam. In 1978, a radical faction of Tamils supporters. The riots also sparked the growth of
led by Velupillai Prabhakaran founded the LTTE in the more than a dozen other Tamil insurgent groups with
hope of gaining total independence. which the LTTE would become bitter rivals during
The LTTE is considered to be one of the most the next few years; some of the LTTE’s most brutal
effective guerrilla forces operating in the world; for attacks were made against these rival groups and
19 years it has been fighting a government force their sympathizers.
approximately 10 times larger than itself. Initially, the The LTTE was helped in its rise to power by the
LTTE exclusively employed hit-and-run guerrilla clandestine aid of the Indian government, which was
tactics in its fight against the government, but as the motivated by a number of complex political consid-
force has grown larger—LTTE is thought to number erations, not least the hope of appeasing its own
approximately 8,000 in 2002—it has begun to operate 50-million-strong Tamil population. The Indian
in the traditional division-brigade-battalion structure government allowed Tamil insurgents (though not,
used by most armed forces. Extremely well equipped, initially, the LTTE) to operate camps in southern
with heavy artillery (including antiaircraft rockets and India and provided military training and weapons to
grenade launchers), the LTTE even has its own small thousands of insurgents. (The LTTE has also received
navy, the Sea Tigers, that is used for smuggling as money from the large Tamil diaspora.) With Indian
well as attacks. training and arms, the Tamil insurgents from various
Several unusual attributes of the LTTE have groups soon controlled large sections of Sri Lanka’s
attracted international interest. The LTTE has a large northern peninsula and most of Jaffna, the capital of
number of women in every division, and many have the Northern Province.
risen to command positions. Its use of child soldiers in In April 1987, the government struck back, orches-
combat, some as young as 12, has brought condemna- trating a huge counterattack that retook most of the
tion by the United Nations. But perhaps most unusual peninsula and bottled up the rebels in Jaffna. Alarmed
is the LTTE’s Black Tiger division, a specially trained by these developments, the Indian government air-
squad used for terrorist attacks, including suicide dropped relief supplies into Jaffna, then offered
bombings. Black Tiger assassins have killed dozens of its services to help broker a peace agreement. The
Sri Lankan politicians; in 1991 a LTTE suicide bomber Sri Lankan government, afraid of displeasing (and
murdered the prime minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi. At possibly being invaded by) its much larger neighbor,
all levels, LTTE members have shown an unusual will- agreed, and the Indians sent 10,000 troops to form the
ingness to die for their cause; fighters are issued Indian Peacekeeping Force (IPKF). The rebels and the
cyanide caplets worn on a chain around their necks, government proved utterly unable to reach a compro-
and many have swallowed them rather than be taken mise, however, and the LTTE, which was the most
prisoner. The LTTE has been equally careless of hard line of the rebel groups, began to eliminate rival
others’ lives; in addition to the suicide bombings, the organizations and consolidate power. The Sri Lankans