72 Facts About LTTE

The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island, due to the continuous discrimination and violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese dominated Sri Lankan Government.

The LTTE popularised and perfected the use of a suicide vest as a weapon, a tactic now used by many current militant organisations.

In particular, India's relationship with the LTTE was complex, as it went from initially supporting the organisation to engaging it in direct combat through the Indian Peace Keeping Force, owing to changes in the former's foreign policy during the phase of the conflict.

The LTTE gained global notoriety for using women and children in combat 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.

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LTTE was founded on 5 May 1976 as the successor to the Tamil New Tigers.

The LTTE carried out low-key attacks against various government targets, including policemen and local politicians.

LTTE ordered civilians to boycott the local government elections of 1983 which TULF contested.

LTTE carried out its first major attack on 23 July 1983, when they ambushed Sri Lanka Army patrol Four Four Bravo at Thirunelveli, Jaffna.

LTTE denounced the TELO view and claimed that India was only acting on its own interest.

The LTTE attacked training camps of the EPRLF a few months later, forcing it to withdraw from the Jaffna peninsula.

LTTE members were prohibited from smoking cigarettes and consuming alcohol in any form.

LTTE members were required to avoid their family members and avoid communication with them.

LTTE rejected the accord because they opposed EPRLF's Varadaraja Perumal as the chief ministerial candidate for the merged North Eastern Province.

The LTTE named three alternate candidates for the position, which India rejected.

The LTTE subsequently refused to hand over their weapons to the IPKF.

The Indian Army launched assaults on the LTTE, including a month-long campaign, Operation Pawan to win control of the Jaffna Peninsula.

President Premadasa ordered the Sri Lanka Army to clandestinely hand over arms consignments to the LTTE to fight the IPKF and its proxy, the Tamil National Army.

From 1998 onward, the LTTE regained control of these areas, which culminated in the capture in April 2000 of the strategically important Elephant Pass base complex, located at the entrance of the Jaffna Peninsula, after prolonged fighting against the Sri Lanka Army.

LTTE is said to have collaborated with the Indian Research and Analysis Wing to remove Prabhakaran from the LTTE leadership.

In 2002, the LTTE dropped its demand for a separate state, instead demanding a form of regional autonomy.

Six rounds of peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE were held, but they were temporarily suspended after the LTTE pulled out of the talks in 2003 claiming "certain critical issues relating to the ongoing peace process".

Norwegian mediator Erik Solheim told journalists that the LTTE should take direct responsibility for the collapse of the talks.

Rifts grew between the government and LTTE, and resulted in a number of ceasefire agreement violations by both sides during 2006.

The LTTE leadership accused him of mishandling funds and questioned him about his recent personal behaviour.

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The LTTE has suggested that TMVP was backed by the government, and the Nordic SLMM monitors corroborated this.

Sporadic violence had continued and on 25 April 2006, LTTE tried to assassinate Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka.

On 2 January 2009, the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, announced that the Sri Lankan troops had captured Kilinochchi, the city which the LTTE had used for over a decade as its de facto administrative capital.

LTTE assumed duty as the new leader of LTTE on 21 July 2009.

LTTE was viewed as a disciplined and militarised group with a leader of a significant military and organisational skills.

Three major divisions of the LTTE were the military, intelligence, and political wings.

LTTE acquired its first light aircraft in the late 1990s.

LTTE operated a systematic and powerful political wing, which functioned like a separate state in the LTTE controlled area.

LTTE was a member of the LTTE delegation for Norwegian brokered peace talks.

In 2003, the LTTE issued a proposal to establish an Interim Self Governing Authority in the 8 districts of the North and East which it controlled.

LTTE was a self-styled national liberation organisation with the primary goal of establishing an independent Tamil state.

The LTTE was influenced by Indian freedom fighters such as Subhas Chandra Bose.

The LTTE presented itself as a revolutionary movement seeking widespread change within Tamil society, not just independence from the Sri Lankan state.

The international network of LTTE engages in propaganda, fundraising, arms procurement, and shipping.

From 1983 to 1987, LTTE acquired a substantial amount of weapons from RAW and from Lebanon, Cyprus, Singapore, and Malaysia-based arms dealers.

LTTE received its first consignment of arms from Singapore in 1984 on board the MV Cholan, the first ship owned by the organisation.

In November 1994, the LTTE was able to purchase 60 tonnes of explosives from Rubezone Chemical plant in Ukraine, providing a forged Bangladeshi Ministry of Defense end-user certificate.

LTTE worked at the North Korean embassy in Bangkok since late 1997.

LTTE had nearly 20-second-hand ships, which were purchased in Japan, and registered in Panama and other Latin American countries.

India opposes the new state Tamil Eelam that LTTE wants to establish, saying that it would lead to Tamil Nadu's separation from India, despite the leaders and common populace of Tamil Nadu considering themselves Indian.

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The Indian Government extended the ban on LTTE considering their strong anti-India posture and threat to the security of Indian nationals.

The court noted that the basis of proscribing the LTTE had been based on "imputations derived from the press and the Internet" rather than on direct investigation of the group's actions, as required by law.

In July 2017, the LTTE was removed from the terrorism blacklist of European Union's top court, stating that there was no evidence to show of LTTE carrying out attacks after its military defeat in 2009.

However, despite the European Court of Justice ruling, the European Union stated the LTTE organization remains listed as a terrorist organization by the EU.

LTTE maintained that the LTTE was a national liberation organization fighting against "state terrorism" and "racist oppression".

One of the main divisions of LTTE included the Black Tigers, an elite fighting wing of the movement, whose mission included carrying out suicide attacks against enemy targets.

The Black Tigers wing of the LTTE is said to reflect some of elements of Tamil martial traditions including the practice of the worship of fallen heroes and martial martyrdom.

All soldiers of LTTE carried a suicide pill around their necks to escape captivity and torture by enemy forces.

The LTTE was responsible for a 1998 attack on the Buddhist shrine and UNESCO World Heritage Site Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy that killed eight worshippers.

LTTE has been condemned by various groups for assassinating political and military opponents.

LTTE sympathisers justify some of the assassinations by arguing that the people attacked were combatants or persons closely associated with Sri Lankan military intelligence.

Specifically in relation to the TELO, the LTTE has said that it had to perform preemptive self-defence because the TELO was in effect functioning as a proxy for India.

LTTE has been accused of recruiting and using child soldiers to fight against Sri Lankan government forces.

The LTTE was accused of having up to 5,794 child soldiers in its ranks since 2001.

Amid international pressure, the LTTE announced in July 2003 that it would stop conscripting child soldiers, but UNICEF and Human Rights Watch have accused it of reneging on its promises, and of conscripting Tamil children orphaned by the tsunami.

LTTE argues that instances of child recruitment occurred mostly in the east, under the purview of former LTTE regional commander Colonel Karuna.

LTTE is responsible for forcibly removing, or ethnic cleansing, of Sinhalese and Muslim inhabitants from areas under its control.

In October 1987, the LTTE took advantage of communal violence in the Eastern Province.

LTTE gunmen led Tamil rioters and ordered Sinhalese to leave, threatening their lives.

The LTTE saw Muslims as a threat to 'national security' as they alleged their Muslim cadres had defected from their movement to join the Sri Lankan military and paramilitary forces who were allegedly responsible for attacks on Tamil civilians.

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LTTE later undertook its anti-Muslim campaigns as it began to view Muslims as outsiders, rather than a part of the Tamil nation.

In 2003, the LTTE formally recognised the rights of the Muslim and Sinhalese communities to be present in the north-east in their ISGA proposals.

LTTE had executed prisoners of war on a number of occasions, in spite of the declaration in 1988, that it would abide by the Geneva Conventions.

In 1993, LTTE killed 200 Sri Lanka Army soldiers, captured in the naval base at Pooneryn, during the Battle of Pooneryn.

In 1996, LTTE executed 207 military officers and soldiers who had surrendered to the LTTE during Battle of Mullaitivu.

The LTTE tortured suspects based on the victim's refusal to co-operate and giving information to the Sri Lankan army or IPKF.

The LTTE used torture during interrogations, where prisoners were interrogated after sleep deprivation and tortured if there were any discrepancies in their story.