A central governing committee led by Prabhakaran oversaw all activities of the LTTE, both political and military. Accessed 14 May South Asian Terrorism Database, Web. South Asian Terrorism Database, n. Accessed 22 Aug. The LTTE also secured a significant amount of its funding from criminal activities, including piracy, human and drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and other petty crimes.
The Office of Overseas Purchases, also known as the KP Department, functions as the main procurement body of the LTTE, and is believed to obtain arsenal from various countries as well as operate a fleet of deep-sea vessels. Additional high tech weaponry is purchased using overseas funds. Accessed 10 Mar Accessed 26 February Accessed 26 February, Disclaimer: This is a partial list of where the militant organization has bases and where it operates.
This does not include information on where the group conducts major attacks or has external influences. The Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora, and widespread funding sources that accompanied it, allowed the LTTE to carry out its operations in a range of countries. Tamil Nadu was a crucial transit point for low-technology arms, narcotics, contraband, and more, given the geographic closeness to Sri Lanka and control of the regional waters by the LTTE Sea Tigers. This includes Sri Lankan Tamil newspapers and other publications.
The LTTE also maintained a presence in South Africa that included propaganda, fund-raising, training camps, weapons procurement, and shipping activity. This is believed to have lead to the formation of a South African Tamil Tigers, trained by both LTTE personnel as well as military organizations from the Apartheid era.
Accessed 28 Feb Accessed 10 Mar. Accessed 19 Feb Prabhakan, the group's leader, stressed that "a struggle for Eelam is a demand of the Tamil people", not only of the LTTE. It has, until recently, been a registered political party in Sri Lanka. However they have rarely been active in local politics.
Although they were listed on a few local ballots in , the government deregistered the party in The LTTE demonstrated its willingness to negotiate with the Sri Lankan government on several occasions; although, the LTTE often used talks and agreements to enhance its own position, re-arm, and get rid of its competitors. The Indian government agreed to intervene in the Sri Lankan conflict and provide a peacekeeping force to ensure that the LTTE disarmed.
However, after six rounds of additional talks in Thailand and Japan, the LTTE announced the suspension of further talks in Prabhakaran was killed by government forces on May 18, , bringing an immediate end to the conflict and the LTTE. Brookings Institution Press.
Ross and Andrea Matles Savada. Accessed 1 Mar. Accessed 23 July The LTTE maintains army, navy, and air capabilities, but is most well-known for its use of suicide operations by a small, special armed group called the Black Tigers. The Black Tigers use traditional land and sea tactics, as well as guerrilla warfare and targeted bombings and assassinations, particularly in the northern and eastern areas of Sri Lanka. They are one of the first organizations to utilize suicide attacks on a large scale.
LTTE attacks targeted individuals and groups who did not support their overarching goal of attaining an independent Tamil state, which included the Sri Lankan military, Sri Lankan and Indian politicians, police, and sometimes various civilian populations. Theodore Karasik.
May Disclaimer: These are some selected major attacks in the militant organization's history. It is not a comprehensive listing, but captures some of the most famous attacks or turning points during the campaign.
BBC, 28 Jan Accessed 3 April Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Lanka Newspapers. Accessed 9 April Support for the LTTE was primarily based around the disenfranchised Tamil population in the north of Sri Lanka, and later the Tamils who escaped to the south. These structures collect taxes and administer the rule of law.
The LTTE also actively used children as part of their front-line troops. Many of these children were abducted from refugee camps and orphanages in Tamil-controlled areas. Accessed 22 Jult By , the LTTE was the dominant group. By April , the LTTE had essentially subdued the breakaway faction; however, Colonel Karuna escaped with a small group of supporters and regrouped in Colombo. The LTTE has developed relationships with various Islamist groups because of its criminal activities in the informal arms market, rather than any form of ideological affinity.
By the s, the LTTE had developed a close relationship with the Kurdish Support Group in France and had modeled their diaspora funding efforts after the Kurdish example.
The LTTE also established a presence in Eritrea, which is known to be a major shipment point in the informal arms market. The Tigers control most of the areas in the Northern Province but also conduct operations throughout the island.
They have recently been wiped out of the Eastern Province and are losing considerable ground in the Northern Province. The LTTE leadership was organized along a two-tier structure: a military wing and a subordinate political wing. The central governing committee also had an International Secretariat headed by Veerakathy Manivannam a.
Most of these leaders, however, were killed during the Eelam War IV. He was assisted by B. Nadesan, his political advisor, and his intelligence Chief Pottu Amman.
The General then on January 11, speculated the total cadre strength to be about 4, At its peak, the organisation has cadre strength of about 18, On January 8, , the then Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga alleged that the outfit increased its military strength during the truce period by recruiting over 11, guerrillas. Quite a few of them are small children and forcible recruitment was going on," she said. Earlier on January 22, , the Sri Lankan President's office indicated that the LTTE had increased its fighting forces during the cease-fire period "by 10, cadres, most of whom were children.
According to another estimate, the LTTE's deployment increased from 9, before the cease-fire agreement was signed to 16, towards the end of The LTTE placed immense emphasis on the cult of martyrdom. LTTE cadres were known for their high sense of discipline, dedication, strong determination, a high degree of motivation and innovation.
Bulldozers were suitably adapted to function as armoured vehicles. A deliberate policy of recruiting women and children into LTTE cadres was initiated after the signing of the Indian Peace Keeping Force IPKF Accord in , to offset a severe shortage of manpower, because of ever increasing casualties and the escalation of the conflict. Nearly one-third of the LTTE cadre comprised women, who are assigned duties on the battlefield, in the kitchen, and in medical camps as nurses. There were allegations of the LTTE abducting children from areas under its controls to fill its dwindling ranks, and an estimated children were in LTTE rank.
All LTTE fighters underwent a programme of rigorous training. A typical training schedule is spread over four months, during which they receive training in handling weapons, battle and field craft, communications, explosives and intelligence gathering, as well as an exhausting physical regimen and rigorous indoctrination.
Vithusha was formed in , women began combat training in In October , Prabhakaran set up the first training camp exclusively for women in Jaffna for the second and successive batches. By , this unit secured its own leadership structure. This period reportedly witnessed the highest recruitment of women as it was also the time when women were the worst sufferers of the ethnic conflict. Media reports also indicated that women were being forced to join the LTTE, according to letters purportedly recovered from slain woman militants in Sri Lanka.
A report in the Chennai-based The Hindu said on March 10, , that nearly 4, women LTTE cadres have been killed since they began taking part in combat from , joining the LTTE pantheon of over 17, "heroes" in the nearly two decade-old conflict.
Over of the women killed belonged to the dreaded Black Tiger suicide squad. The women reportedly underwent the same tough training as men, and like them, are broken up into fighting, intelligence gathering, political and administrative units. In her book Women Fighters of Liberation Tigers , Adele Ann, the Australian-born wife of Anton Balasingham, LTTE theoretician who died in December , described the decision by a Tamil woman to join the organisation as a message to society "that they are not satisfied with the social status quo; it means they are young women capable of defying authority; it means they are women with independent thoughts; young women prepared to lift up their heads.
Marriage was not allowed for women cadres up to the age of 25 and for men up to the age of Children featured prominently in the LTTE's protracted guerilla and terrorist campaigns, and assessments by the Sri Lankan Directorate of Military Intelligence have estimated that as much as 60 per cent of the LTTE's fighters were below Estimates based on LTTE fighters who have been killed in combat reveal that 40 per cent of its fighting forces - including both males and females - were between 9 and 18 years of age.
The first recruitment of child soldiers into LTTE ranks dates back over two decades, after the ethnic riots of July resulted in a massive exodus of civilians to India. Initially, the child soldiers - affectionately referred to as 'Tiger cubs' - received non-military training, mostly primary education and physical exercise. Until , the LTTE had sufficient adult units in operation and young recruits were put through the Tigers' standard grueling four-month training course as soon as they reached Many children from the Pondicherry batch achieved battle prominence, and several others served as bodyguards to Pottu Amman, the LTTE Chief of Intelligence responsible, among a host of other operations, for planning the assassination of two world leaders.
The child fighters were originally a part of the Baby Brigade commanded by Justin, a Pondicherry-trained fighter. However, after the LTTE integrated children with other units to offset heavy losses in combat.
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