Military Periscope :: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

Group Name:

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or the Tamil Tigers.

Location/Area of Operation:

The Tigers have controlled most of the northern coastal area of Sri Lanka for years and have conducted operations throughout the island. Former rebel-held territory in eastern Sri Lanka was captured in 2006-2007 by the Sri Lanka military, which in late 2008 and early 2009 also seized most of the Tiger region in the north.

Stated Purpose:

The Tigers seek an autonomous homeland or "eelam" for Sri Lanka's Tamil minority.

Strength:

The Tigers have about 7,000 to 10,000 armed fighters. There are about 500 members of the Black Tiger suicide-bomber unit. The Sea Tiger navy wing has an estimated 4,000 personnel.

External Aid and Links:

The Tigers have an extensive international network to fund their operations. They are considered by some experts to be the best-funded terrorist group in the world.

The LTTE's overt fundraising organizations lobby foreign governments and the United Nations for aid. The Tigers use their international networks to funnel arms and other equipment into Sri Lanka.

Activities:

Since the mid-1970s, the Tigers have waged a bloody guerrilla war against the Sri Lankan government that has left more than 60,000 dead. In February 2002, the Tigers signed a permanent cease-fire agreement with the government, dramatically reducing most terrorist activity. The cease-fire collapsed in 2007 with the launch of an aggressive government campaign against the Tigers.

The Tigers have been implicated in more than 200 suicide bombings. Their targets have included Buddhist temples, transportation facilities and office buildings. The Tigers developed the so-called jacket apparatus for their suicide bombers. This design has reportedly been copied by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Hezbollah and Hamas suicide bombers.

The Tigers also have a naval wing called the Sea Tigers. The Sea Tigers have attacked numerous vessels in Sri Lankan seas, including foreign commercial vessels. The Sea Tigers also help smuggle materiel into rebel territory from neighboring countries.

The Tigers have carried out several assassinations of key government officials, including a former Indian prime minister, a Sri Lankan president and other important public figures. A typical Tiger tactic is to attack a vulnerable government target and then withdraw before reinforcements arrive.

The Tigers have an array of weaponry, including machine guns, rocket launchers, mines, small arms, small watercraft, underwater mines, night-vision gear and several small planes. It is likely that the LTTE also has a limited number of surface-to-air missiles. LTTE missiles have downed several Sri Lankan air force aircraft over northern Sri Lanka.

The Tigers split in March 2004. A splinter faction in eastern Sri Lanka led by "Col. Karuna" separated from the main, northern-dominated group. (Col. Karuna is a nom de guerre for Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan.) The groups soon began attacking each other. The LTTE accused the Karuna faction of being a proxy force for the Sri Lanka military.

Overview:

The British took control of the island of Ceylon in 1815. They brought in Tamil workers from India to work on tea, coffee and coconut plantations. The British colonial rulers gave preferential treatment to the Tamil minority. However, the Sinahalese majority assumed power after independence in 1948 and instituted nationalist policies that antagonized many Tamils. The largely Hindu Tamils now make up about 18 percent of the Sri Lanka population of 20 million.

The Tamil Students Movement began in 1970 to protest the government's plan to limit university access to Tamil students. The group subsequently spawned terrorist splinter groups, including the LTTE, which was formed by Velupillai Prabhakran in 1976.

A full-blown civil war began in 1983 when the Tigers ambushed an army patrol in Jaffna, killing 13 soldiers. The attack sparked widespread violence between Tamils and Sinhalese, which left almost 1,000 people dead.

In the late 1980s, violence escalated and India dispatched peacekeepers in an attempt to bring an end to the conflict. The Indian troops eventually withdrew in 1990 after getting involved in the fighting in northern Sri Lanka.

In the 1990s, the LTTE was implicated in the assassination of several officials, including former Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi.

Throughout the civil war, both sides have promoted peace talks. Several attempts were made in the 1990s to bring an end to the conflict through negotiations. Finally, in February 2002, both sides signed a permanent cease-fire agreement sponsored by Norway.

Since March 2004, dozens have died in eastern Sri Lanka after rebel leader Col.Karuna split from the main group. The Tigers crushed the internal rebellion, but Karuna escaped and continued sporadic attacks against the main group. LTTE leaders have accused the military of using Karuna as a proxy in the conflict.

Escalating tensions led to open hostilities in the first half of 2006. Although the cease-fire technically continued between the LTTE and the government, each apparently attacked the other at will and the Tigers indefinitely postponed peace negotiations.

In the summer of 2007, the Sri Lankan military gained significant ground in the eastern portions of the island. In July, the military said they had taken the last Tamil Tiger rebel stronghold in the eastern part of the country. The Thoppigala region, in the district of Batticaloa, had been in rebel hands for 14 years. Rebel forces acknowledged the temporary loss of the east. The government’s aggressive campaign against the LTTE, continued through 2008.

Fierce clashes between the government and LTTE continued with suicide attacks and other bombings. The FBI in the United States apprehended a key supporter in New York and the U.S. government froze the assets of a Tamil-associated group in November 2007. As LTTE was pushed back into the northern section of Sri Lanka, it reportedly cracked down in areas it controlled, to include using young people in its militant operations. In early 2009, the government pressed its campaign against the LTTE in northern Sri Lanka.

Group Chronology:

1972
Velupillai Prabhakaran formed the Tamil New Tigers to protest the government's pro-Sinhalese policies.

1976
Prabhakaran established the LTTE to fight for an independent Tamil state in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

1983
July 23: The Tigers ambushed an army patrol in Jaffna, killing 13 soldiers and sparking anti-Tamil riots that left nearly 1,000 people dead.

1985
May 14: LTTE rebels fired on civilians in Anuradhapura, killing 146.

July 8: Talks held in Bhutan between the rebels and the Sri Lankan government were unsuccessful.

1987
April 21: A LTTE bomb in Colombo killed more than 100 people.

July 29: Sri Lanka and India signed an agreement to stop Tamil violence and separatism. India deployed peacekeepers to the Jaffna peninsula to enforce the agreement.

October: The Tigers attacked Indian peacekeepers in Sri Lanka.

1990
February: The government attempted peace negotiations with the Tigers.

March: Indian peacekeepers withdrew from Sri Lanka. At this point, the Tigers controlled large areas in the northern part of the island. Later that year, the government resumed military operations against the Tigers.

1991
May 21: An LTTE bomber killed former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

1992
Nov. 16: A Tiger suicide bomber killed Sri Lankan navy commander Clancy Fernando.

1993
May 1: An LTTE bomb killed President Ranasinghe Premadasa.

1994
October: The third round of peace talks began between the rebels and the government.

October 24: The Tigers assassinated opposition presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake.

1995
April: After almost six months of peace talks, the Tigers abandoned negotiations and bombed two Sri Lankan navy boats.

December: After nearly six weeks of fighting, the Sri Lankan army seized the rebel capital of Jaffna.

1996
January: The Tigers drove a truck bomb into the Central Bank in Colombo, killing 91 people. The government declared a nationwide state of emergency.

1997
May: The army launched Operation Sure Victory to capture the Vavuniya-Jaffna highway.

1998
Jan. 25: The Tigers staged a daring suicide bombing that severely damaged Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist shrine, the Temple of the Tooth. The bombing also killed 13 people.

May 17: The Tigers were blamed for the assassination of the mayor of Jaffna.

September: The Tigers offered to resume peace negotiations with the government as long as a third party would mediate. The government refused the offer.

Sept. 30: A major Tamil offensive against the town of Kilinochchi left more than 600 Sri Lankan soldiers dead.

December: The army captured the Oddusudan area, causing more than 10,000 people to flee.

1999
October: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga ruled out peace talks with the Tigers.

Dec. 18: Kumaratunga was wounded and 15 others were killed by a bombing in Colombo.

2000
Jan. 5: A suicide bomber killed 13 and injured 28 in front of the prime minister's office in Colombo.

February: The Norwegian government said it would play a role in presenting a new peace deal to the Tigers.

April 23: The Tigers seized a military base in the Elephant Pass.

May 8: Kumaratunga turned down a Tiger offer to allow Sri Lankan troops to evacuate Jaffna.

September: The army launched a major offensive against the Tigers in the Jaffna peninsula.

2001
July: A Tiger suicide attack at Colombo's airport killed 14.

2002
February: The government and rebels signed a permanent cease-fire agreement. Norway sponsored the peace initiative.

Spring: The Tigers began decommissioning some of their weapons. The road connecting Jaffna to the rest of the island was reopened.

September: The government lifted the ban on the Tigers.

Sept. 16: The first round of peace talks began. The Tigers dropped their demands for an independent state. Both sides exchanged prisoners of war.

December: During the second round of peace negotiations, both sides agreed to a power-sharing government. It was also agreed that the Tamils would have autonomy in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

2003
April: The Tigers suspended the peace talks, saying they had been marginalized. However, they pledged not to break the cease-fire.

June: The Tigers rejected an offer from the government for an interim authority to govern Tamil regions. The Tigers said they would participate in negotiations only when the government had laid out a clearly defined framework for an administration in the northeastern region.

2004
March: Col. Karuna broke from the main Tiger organization and created his own rebel group. The mainstream Tigers accused Karuna of receiving support from the Sri Lankan army.

July 7: A suicide bombing in Colombo killed four. The Tigers denied involvement in the attack, and blamed "some elements who are working to disrupt peace efforts."

August: Two top Tiger political leaders were killed in the rebel-held stronghold of Batticaloa. The Tigers accused the Sri Lankan army of carrying out the murders.

2005
Aug. 12: Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was assassinated at his Colombo home. The government blamed the LTTE, but the rebel group denied involvement.

Dec. 11: The Sri Lankan government indicated its willingness to hold peace talks with the Tigers in any Asian country. Previously, Colombo had insisted on holding the discussions in Sri Lanka, but said it agreed to the demand in hopes of restarting the stalled talks.

December: The Tigers carried out several attacks against government military personnel, including a naval ambush on two Sri Lankan naval dinghies, firing on an army helicopter and several mine explosions. The attacks jeopardized the tenuous cease-fire.

2006
February: The Sri Lankan government and the Tigers met in Switzerland to reinforce a shaky cease-fire. During the meeting, the two sides agreed to resume their talks in April. The rebels also committed to refrain from acts of violence against the military and police as long as government forces reciprocated.

April 1: Suspected Tamil rebels blew up a bus full of sailors in northeastern Sri Lanka, killing more than 10 and wounding at least eight others.

April 10: Canada added the Tamil Tigers to its official list of terrorist organizations.

April 12: Blasts blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka's northeast killed 13 people and injured dozens more. Two policemen died in a claymore mine ambush. Ten civilians and one soldier were killed in a blast in a crowded marketplace in the northeastern port town of Trincomalee.

April 25: A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber pretending to be pregnant blew herself up in front of a car carrying the Sri Lankan army chief, leaving him critically wounded and killing five bodyguards.

April 26: Sri Lanka's military unleashed several days of air strikes and mortar attacks at areas controlled by Tamil Tiger insurgents. The attacks were launched in response to the previous day's bombing attempt on the chief of the army.

April 29: The Sri Lanka government and Tamil Tiger rebels agreed to meet for peace talks in Geneva, but set no date. The two sides had made arrangement to meet in the Swiss city, but the rebels backed out, citing attacks on Tamil civilians and other points of disagreement.

May 11: LTTE fighters attacked a Sri Lankan naval convoy off the Jaffna Peninsula, sinking a Dvora patrol boat. As many as 50 people died in the ensuing battle.

May 21: An army sniper killed Ramanan, the deputy head of LTTE's military wing in Batticaloa, as he inspected rebel positions in Vavunathivu. Ramanan was the most senior Tiger commander killed since the 2002 cease-fire, according to the LTTE.

May 30: The European Union listed the LTTE as a banned terrorist organization. The move came amid a sharp escalation in clashes between the group and the Sri Lankan army.

June: The LTTE declared that truce monitors from the European Union were not welcome on the 57-man Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). Thirty-seven SLMM monitors at the time were citizens of the E.U. nations of Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

June 17: A dozen LTTE watercraft attacked a group of Sri Lankan naval vessels off the northwest islet of Mannar. Up to 47 people were killed and three navy boats were damaged in the attack.

June 28: Tamil rebels attacked two Sri Lankan navy boats off the coast of the capital, Colombo, leaving at least 17 dead.

July 31: Heavy fighting broke out between government troops and Tiger fighters in eastern Sri Lanka after the LTTE closed a sluice gate on the Mavilaru reservoir, stopping the flow of water to areas downstream.

Aug. 9: The Tamil Tigers reopened the Mavilaru water sluice, but heavy fighting continued.

Sept. 4: Sri Lankan troops seized control of the strategic port town of Sampur on the southern edge of Trincomalee harbor after several days of fighting. About 15 troops died and more than 90 were injured during the Sampur offensive. Dozens of LTTE fighters were also believed killed.

Sept. 25: The Sri Lankan navy sank at least 11 LTTE vessels and killed more than 70 rebels in a sea battle off the northeastern coast of Sri Lanka, according to the military.

Oct. 29: Peace talks in Geneva ended without any agreement or date for further discussions. The talks stalled over rebel demands that a highway leading to the northern Jaffna peninsula be reopened.

Dec. 1: Secretary of Defense Gothabaya Rajapakse survived a suicide bombing that was blamed on the LTTE. One person was killed and 14 injured in the attack on the secretary's convoy in Colombo.

Dec. 6: The Sri Lankan government moved to reactivate provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and other emergency laws that had been suspended after the 2002 truce with the LTTE. The laws gave Sri Lankan police and security forces extensive powers of arrest and detention.

2007
Jan. 19: Government forces captured the rebel-held town of Vakarai in eastern Sri Lanka.

March 26: The Tigers executed their first aerial attack against the Sri Lanka military, dropping three bombs from two light aircraft on the Katunayaka air force base adjoining the Colombo international airport.

April 6: The French government apprehended the leader of LTTE’s branch in France, Nadarajah Mathinthiran, as well as 16 other suspected Tamil supporters.

April 12: Government troops seized the key A-5 highway in eastern Sri Lanka, giving the military control over the Trincomalee, Ampara and Batticaloa districts and isolating Tiger rebels in the jungles of the Thoppigala district.

April 24: The LTTE air wing staged its second attack, dropping homemade bombs on the Palaly military air field on the northern Jaffna peninsula. Six troops were killed and six were wounded in the air attack, according to the military.

April 25: The FBI arrested LTTE’s New York director, Karunakaran Kandasamy, on federal charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

April 30: Tiger airplanes raided military fuel facilities at Kolonnawa and Muthurajawela near Colombo. The attacks caused little damage, according to military officials.

May 1: Australian officials arrested two LTTE leaders who had access to more than Aus$500,000 in two bank accounts. The government conducted raids on suspected supporters in Melbourne and Sydney.

July 11: The Sri Lankan government announced it had taken control of the last Tamil stronghold in the eastern province. Troops retook the rugged area of Thoppigala in the district of Batticaloa, which had been in rebel hands for years.

July 13: Tamil Tiger rebels claimed to have shot down a Sri Lanka air force Kfir fighter in the rebel-held town of Vavuniyaa.

July 30: The Sri Lankan government said it destroyed the LTTE's Alampil naval training base in the northeastern district of Mullaittivu during several air raids.

Aug. 13: The Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense reported that Chandrasekaran Pillai, ranked number three in the Sea Tigers, was among six commanders killed near the eastern coastal town of Pulmodai.

Aug. 14: Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake announced an amnesty program for Tamil Tigers to begin on Sept. 1. More than 500 rebels surrendered after security forces seized all of the eastern province, according to the government.

Oct. 22: Sri Lankan special operations personnel confronted LTTE rebels who had carried out an attack on the air force base at Anuradhapura. The clash resulted in the death of 20 rebels and nine military personnel. Subsequently, the Tigers shelled the base hangar, damaging two helicopters.

Nov. 2: The air force conducted an air strike at Thiruvaiaru, resulting in the death of LTTE’s political leader, S. P. Thamilselvan. The air force also attacked a Black Tiger camp in East Iranamadu, killing five other LTTE leaders. The camp was later found to be a major Tiger operations center.

Nov. 27: LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran publicly hailed the group's campaign against oppression and complained that the “unjust conduct” of the international community had undermined the confidence of the Tamil people.

Nov. 28: A woman LTTE suicide bomber, disguised as a disabled polio victim, blew herself up at the office of Sri Lanka’s minister for social welfare. The minister escaped without injury; one assistant was severely injured and another was killed.

Dec. 5: Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels killed 16 people in an attack on a crowded civilian bus, near the town of Anuradhapura.

2008
January: On Jan. 1, an official of the opposition United National Party was assassinated at a Hindu temple in Colombo. The government attributed the killing to LTTE, but the opposition blamed the government. LTTE also was suspected in the Jan. 8 roadside bomb killing of a government minister in Ja-Ela, near Colombo.

Jan. 8: The government pulled out of a 2002 cease-fire agreement with LTTE.

March 30: The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) accused the government of hindering its investigation of human-rights abuses, saying it would leave the country. The panel had been invited by the government to monitor investigations into alleged abuses. The government rejected the allegations.

July 16: Sri Lankan military said it captured the important Tamil Tiger naval base at Vidattaltivu in the northern part of the country.

Aug. 14: The Sri Lankan military reported it was within artillery distance of LTTE's main administrative operation in Kilinochchi. The Army also advanced on other LTTE strongholds in the north.

Oct. 6: The government blamed LTTE for a bombing in Anuradhpura that killed 27 people, including a former general.

Dec. 13: Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa, noting the progress that security forces had made against LTTE, said the success was irreversible. The next objective, said the president, is to bring stability to the northern section of the country.

2009
Jan. 2: Seeking a knockout blow, government forces captured the northern city of Kilinochchi, which had served as the LTTE operations base for more than 10 years. Tamil militants fled the city hoping to regroup. By Jan. 5, troops held a vital pass controlling access to a rebel stronghold on the Jaffna peninsula. Military observers said the government had fielded more than 200,000 fighters in the campaign.

Jan. 9: President Rajapaksa announced the capture of the Elephant Pass, a strategic causeway linking the Jaffna peninsula with the mainland. This provided troops with access to the final rebel stronghold in Mullaittivu.

Last Updated:

January 2009