Global InformationLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam information
| Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam | |
|---|---|
| தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் දෙමළ ඊලාම් විමුක්ති කොටි සංවිධානය | |
 | |
| Also known as | Tamil Tigers; LTTE |
| Leader | Velupillai Prabhakaran † |
| Foundation | 1976 |
| Dates of operation | 5 May 1976 – 18 May 2009 |
| Motives | Creation of an independent state of Tamil Eelam in the Northern Province and the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka |
| Ideology | Tamil nationalism Left-wing nationalism Separatism Militarism Revolutionary socialism Egalitarianism Anti-imperialism Secularism Self-determination |
| Major actions | Sri Lankan Civil War |
| Status | Inactive. Militarily defeated in May 2009.[1] |
| Size | 18,000, as of 2004, excluding divisions.[2] |
| Annual revenue | US$200–300 million prior to the military defeat.[3][4] |
| Means of revenue | Donations from expatriate Tamils, extortion,[5] drug trafficking,[6][7] shipping, sales of weapons and taxation under LTTE-controlled areas.[8] |
| Flag |  |
| Website | Official website (Now defunct) |
| Part of a series on |
| Sri Lankan Tamils |
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The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; Tamil: தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், romanized: Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, Sinhala: දෙමළ ඊලාම් විමුක්ති කොටි සංවිධානය, romanized: Demaḷa īlām vimukti koṭi saṁvidhānaya; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the northeast of the island[9] in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government.[10]
Its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran cited violent incidents of the 1958 anti-Tamil pogrom during his childhood that led him to militancy. In 1975, he assassinated the Mayor of Jaffna Alfred Duraiappah in revenge for the 1974 Tamil conference incident. The LTTE was subsequently founded in 1976 as a reaction to the Sri Lankan Constitution of 1972 which prescribed Buddhism as the primary religion of the country, and Sinhala language its national language.[11][12][13] The LTTE was involved in attacks on government targets, policemen and local politicians and moved on to armed clashes against the armed forces. Oppression against Sri Lankan Tamils continued by Sinhalese mobs, notably during the 1977 anti-Tamil pogrom and the 1981 burning of the Jaffna Public Library. Following the week-long July 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom carried out by Sinhalese mobs that came to be known as Black July,[14] the LTTE's escalation of intermittent conflict into a full-scale nationalist insurgency began, which started the Sri Lankan Civil War.[15] By this time, the LTTE was widely regarded as the most dominant Tamil militant group in Sri Lanka and among the most feared guerrilla forces in the world.[16]
Initially starting out as a guerrilla force, the LTTE increasingly came to resemble conventional armed forces with a well-developed military wing that included a navy, an airborne unit,[17] an intelligence wing, and a specialised suicide attack unit. The LTTE popularised and perfected the use of a suicide vest as a weapon, a tactic now used by many current militant organisations.[18][19][20][21] The LTTE gained notoriety for using women and children in combat[22] and carrying out a number of high-profile assassinations, including former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993. Consequently, the LTTE has been designated as a terrorist organisation by 33 countries, including the European Union, Canada, the United States, and India.[23]
Over the course of the conflict, the LTTE frequently exchanged control of territory in the north-east with the Sri Lankan military, with the two sides engaging in intense military confrontations. It was involved in four unsuccessful rounds of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government and at its peak in 2000, the LTTE was in control of 76% of the landmass in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.[24] Prabhakaran headed the organisation from its inception until his death in 2009.[25] Between 1983 and 2009, at least 100,000 were killed in the civil war, of which many were Sri Lankan Tamils.[26][27] 800,000 Sri Lankan Tamils also left Sri Lanka for various destinations, including Europe, North America, and Asia.[28]
- ^ "Rebels admit defeat in Sri Lankan civil war | detnews.com | The Detroit News". detnews.com. Retrieved 30 May 2009.[dead link]
- ^ "Armed Conflicts Database, 2007". Archived from the original on 11 May 2006. Retrieved 27 November 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
lakabimwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
icg1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Shanaka Jayasekara (October 2007). "LTTE Fundraising & Money Transfer Operations". satp.org. Archived from the original on 25 October 2007. Retrieved 28 July 2011.
- ^ "News from DEA, Congressional Testimony, 05/20/03". 29 November 2010. Archived from the original on 29 November 2010.
- ^ "'LTTE fall will alter drug trade in India' - Times Of India". 16 September 2012. Archived from the original on 16 September 2012.
- ^ Stokke, Kristian (2006). "Building the Tamil Eelam State: Emerging State Institutions and Forms of Governance in LTTE-Controlled Areas in Sri Lanka". Third World Quarterly. 27 (6): 1034. doi:10.1080/01436590600850434. JSTOR 4017738. S2CID 45544298. Archived from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
- ^ BBC News, Full text: Tamil Tiger proposals (2003) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/3232913.stm Archived 14 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Kingsbury, Damien (27 February 2021). Separatism and the State. Taylor & Francis. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-000-36870-3. Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ Vukovic, Sinisa (2015). International Multiparty Mediation and Conflict Management. Routledge. ISBN 9781317610724. Archived from the original on 20 October 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ Hogan, Patrick Colm (2009). Understanding Indian Movies: Culture, Cognition, and Cinematic imagination. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292779556. Archived from the original on 20 October 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.
- ^ Arena, Michael P.; Arrigo, Bruce A. (1974). The Terrorist Identity: Explaining the Terrorist Threat. NYU Press. ISBN 9780814707593. Archived from the original on 20 October 2023. Retrieved 14 June 2023.p.189
- ^ Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja (1986). Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-78952-7.
- ^ "The Tamil Tigers' long fight explained - CNN.com". cnn.com. Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- ^ "Tamil Tigers may be second richest rebel group worldwide". Livemint. Reuters. 25 July 2007. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- ^ "Sri Lanka rebels in new air raid". BBC News. BBC News. 29 April 2007. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2009.
- ^ Grimland, Meytal; Apter, Alan; Kerkhof, Ad (1 May 2006). "The Phenomenon of Suicide Bombing". Crisis. 27 (3): 107–118. doi:10.1027/0227-5910.27.3.107. ISSN 0227-5910. PMID 17091820. S2CID 5979839. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
- ^ "'The Birthplace of the Suicide Belt.' Sri Lanka's Deadly History of Suicide Bombings". 25 April 2019. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
- ^ Perry, Alex (12 May 2006). "How Sri Lanka's Rebels Build a Suicide Bomber". Time. Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
- ^ "Sri Lanka is all too familiar with suicide bombing". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
- ^ "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam | Mapping Militant Organizations". web.stanford.edu. Archived from the original on 23 November 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
- ^ Gargan, Edward A. (2 May 1993). "Suicide Bomber Kills President of Sri Lanka". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- ^ "Humanitarian Operation Timeline, 1981–2009". Ministry of Defence (Sri Lanka). Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2011.
- ^ Mark Tran (May 2009). "Prabhakaran's death and fall of LTTE lead to street celebrations in Sri Lanka". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 1 July 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
- ^ "Sri Lanka's war 10 years on: Finding Father Francis". BBC News. London, U.K. 18 May 2019. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
- ^ Mahr, Krista (28 November 2013). "Sri Lanka to Start Tally of Civil-War Dead". Time. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2019 – via world.time.com.
- ^ Alison, Miranda (21 January 2009). Women and Political Violence: Female Combatants in Ethno-National Conflict. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-22894-2.