Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels
Jan 7 (Reuters) - Escalating attacks by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels on Sri Lanka's military have raised fears of a return to a two-decade civil war after nearly four years of peace following a 2002 ceasefire.
Below are some key facts about the Tamil Tigers:
* The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a guerrilla organisation founded in the early 1970s by a group of Tamils headed by shadowy rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran which is demanding an independent Tamil state in the Indian Ocean island's north and east.
* The LTTE runs a de-facto state in chunks of Sri Lanka's north and east. They have their own flag, police, banks, courts and defence units including a naval wing, the Sea Tigers, and are believed to have smuggled four light aircraft into the country in pieces.
* Rebel cadres wear characteristic Tiger-striped camouflage and carry cyanide capsules around their necks to commit suicide to avoid divulging vital information if caught. Defence experts estimate there are 18,000-20,000 Tiger cadres, around a third of which are women.
* Nations including the United States, Britain and India have declared the LTTE a banned terrorist group and the European Union has barred its delegations from visiting member nations.
* The Tigers have been blamed for several attacks and killings, including assassinations of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and many politicians and heads of rival Tamil groups.
* Intelligence officials say the Tigers are funded mainly by drugs and weapons smuggling in the region, donations from expatriate Tamils and taxes levied on goods and businesses in their territory.
* The civil war, which erupted after ethnic riots in Sinhalese-majority Sri Lanka in 1983, has claimed over 64,000 lives.
* Norway brokered the ceasefire in 2002, but peace talks broke down in 2003 after the Tigers, who initially agreed to give up their demand for a separate state, said not enough was done to rebuild war-hit Tamil areas.
* The Tigers have threatened to resume their armed struggle this year unless the government gives them an ethnic Tamil homeland and wide autonomy in the north and east. Source: Reuters
Below are some key facts about the Tamil Tigers:
* The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is a guerrilla organisation founded in the early 1970s by a group of Tamils headed by shadowy rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran which is demanding an independent Tamil state in the Indian Ocean island's north and east.
* The LTTE runs a de-facto state in chunks of Sri Lanka's north and east. They have their own flag, police, banks, courts and defence units including a naval wing, the Sea Tigers, and are believed to have smuggled four light aircraft into the country in pieces.
* Rebel cadres wear characteristic Tiger-striped camouflage and carry cyanide capsules around their necks to commit suicide to avoid divulging vital information if caught. Defence experts estimate there are 18,000-20,000 Tiger cadres, around a third of which are women.
* Nations including the United States, Britain and India have declared the LTTE a banned terrorist group and the European Union has barred its delegations from visiting member nations.
* The Tigers have been blamed for several attacks and killings, including assassinations of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar and many politicians and heads of rival Tamil groups.
* Intelligence officials say the Tigers are funded mainly by drugs and weapons smuggling in the region, donations from expatriate Tamils and taxes levied on goods and businesses in their territory.
* The civil war, which erupted after ethnic riots in Sinhalese-majority Sri Lanka in 1983, has claimed over 64,000 lives.
* Norway brokered the ceasefire in 2002, but peace talks broke down in 2003 after the Tigers, who initially agreed to give up their demand for a separate state, said not enough was done to rebuild war-hit Tamil areas.
* The Tigers have threatened to resume their armed struggle this year unless the government gives them an ethnic Tamil homeland and wide autonomy in the north and east. Source: Reuters
posted by Marko at 1/07/2006 02:42:00 PM
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