Tamil Tigers - Canada - CBC News Tamil Tigers CBC News Posted: Apr 20, 2009 7:27 PM ET Last Updated: May 19, 2009 12:42 PM ET More than 1,000 people rally near United Nations headquarters to protest in New York on April 17, 2009, against Sri Lanka's military offensive against the Tamil Tigers and the civilian casualties in a safe zone. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press) Related Stories Sri Lankan protesters form human chain at Toronto's Union Station The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), more commonly known as the Tamil Tigers, was a political and military group that had been trying to fight for an independent homeland in Sri Lanka since the 1970s. It emerged in response to tensions between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils in the island nation south of India. Tamil Tigers are also known as: Eellalan or Ellalan Force. Tiger Organization Security Intelligence Service (TOSIS). Women's Combat Force of Liberation Tigers (WCFLT).

(Source: Public Safety Canada) The rebel group's roots can be traced back to 1974, when several Tamil militants created the Tamil New Tigers (TNT). LTTE was officially founded two years later, in May 1976, by Velupillai Prabhakaran and members of the TNT. LTTE, considered a terrorist organization by Canada, was known for its suicide attacks and was said to have pioneered the use of suicide vests. The Tigers were fighting for an independent state in the north and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, an area they refer to as Tamil Eelam, until the government declared victory over them in May 2009. First Eelam war In 1983, 13 Sinhalese soldiers in northern Jaffna were killed in an ambush by Tigers, sparking anti-Tamil riots that led to the deaths of an estimated several hundred Tamils. It also forced thousands of Tamils to flee the country. That marked the beginning of what the Tigers call the First Eelam War between the Tamil separatists and Sinhalese-dominated government. It was a civil war that would claim more than 70,000 lives over 26 years.

In the 1980s, the Indian military service became involved in the conflict by helping train and arm the Tigers. The Tamil Tigers wanted an independent state in north and eastern parts of Sri Lanka. ((CBC)) In 1987, India and Sri Lanka signed an accord in which Colombo agreed to create new councils for Tamil areas in the north and east. It also reached an agreement with India to deploy an Indian peacekeeping force to curb the violence in northern Sri Lanka. But the peacekeeping force soon found itself embroiled in the bloody conflict and eventually withdrew. On May 21, 1991, a suspected female member of the LTTE assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in an apparent act of revenge against India for sending a peacekeeping force who ended up fighting the rebels. The Tigers have been known to use women and children in their suicide attacks. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, said they recorded more than 6,000 cases of children recruited by the LTTE between 2003 and 2008.

The Tigers and the Sri Lankan government agreed to a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire in 2002 that a war-weary public hoped would bring lasting peace. But talks broke off in 2003 and violence flared up yet again. When the Boxing Day tsunami hit Sri Lanka in 2004, the civil strife was set aside as the country struggled to deal with the worst disaster in its history. About two-thirds of the damage was in the northeastern areas of the island, parts of which were then Tiger territory. However, in the aftermath the Tamil Tigers were reportedly preying on tsunami orphans to use as child soldiers, according to UNICEF. When billions of dollars in foreign aid flowed into the country for tsunami relief, the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission brokered a deal between the Tamil Tigers and the government. The controversial agreement had the groups share responsibility for the money allocated for the disaster's survivors. But the Sri Lankan Supreme Court struck it down. Fundraising abroad In February 2006, the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government met for the first time since 2003 and agreed to extend the ceasefire. They also planned to meet again for more negotiations. But it didn't stop the violence.

Among the deaths blamed on the fighting was a deadly sea battle on May 11, 2006, that claimed the lives of 17 soldiers and about 45 rebels. A Human Rights Watch report released in March 2006 said the Tamil Tigers were using threats and intimidation tactics to extort money from Sri Lankans living in Canada. Fundraisers, often working in pairs, knocked on the doors of Tamil families to solicit donations. The fundraisers were quoted as saying they were "collecting for the final war against the Sri Lankan government." The donation drive targeted Tamil families in Toronto, home to one of the largest Tamil populations outside Sri Lanka. "Tamils unable to pay say they have been told by LTTE fundraisers to borrow the money, make a contribution on their credit card or even re-mortgage their home," Human Rights Watch said in a news release. In April of 2006, the Canadian government added the LTTE to its official list of terrorist organizations for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers in the conflict. The designation made it a crime to fundraise for the group. Ceasefire ends The Sri Lankan government officially ended the ceasefire agreement on Jan.

16, 2008. By early 2009, the Sri Lankan army said they had ousted Tamil Tigers from many of its strongholds in the north and said it was poised to defeat the rebel group in its heartland after the 26-year civil war. The government acknowledged wiping out sleeper cells across the country could take another two years. In April 2009, Sri Lanka rejected a call from the UN for a ceasefire, saying that would allow the rebels to regroup. But as the fighting continues, aid groups were worried about thousands of civilians who fled to an area declared by the Sri Lankan military as a no-fire zone earlier in the year and became trapped near the fighting. The United Nations estimated 150,000 to 190,000 civilians were trapped there, with dozens dying each day. Expatriate Tamils condemned the government's offensive, accusing the government of targeting civilians. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government accused Tigers of using Tamil civilians trapped in the north as human shields against the military campaign. International aid organizations accused both government forces and the rebels of breaking international humanitarian laws, and warned of a high rate of civilian casualties.

A breakthrough for the Sri Lankan military came on the weekend of May 15 when it cornered the remaining LTTE fighters in a small slice of the country's northeast coast. On May 19, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa delivered a speech to Parliament declaring that his country had been "liberated" from terrorism after defeating the Tamil Tiger insurgents. That same day, the military offered up photographic proof that rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had indeed been killed a day earlier. His death was seen as crucial to bringing closure to the civil war.

Sri Lanka declares end to war with Tamil Tigers | World news | The Guardian Sri Lanka declares end to war with Tamil Tigers • Rebel leader shot dead while fleeing war zone • Call for war crimes investigation into civilian deaths Sri Lanka declares end to war with Tamil Tigers • Rebel leader shot dead while fleeing war zone • Call for war crimes investigation into civilian deaths Tuesday 19 May 2009 01.22 EDT First published on Tuesday 19 May 2009 01.22 EDT Close This article is 7 years old The Sri Lankan government today formally declared an end to the 25-year civil war after the army took control of the entire island and killed the leader of the Tamil Tigers . Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa this morning delivered a victory address to parliament, declaring that his country had been "liberated" from terrorism. Recounting how the rebels, known formally as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, (LTTE) once controlled a wide swathe of the north and much of the east, Rajapaksa said that for the first time in 30 years, the country was unified under its elected government.

"We have liberated the whole country from LTTE terrorism," he said, declaring Wednesday a national holiday to celebrate the armed forces. Addressing parliament in the Tamil language, Rajapaksa said the war was not waged against the Tamil people. "Our intention was to save the Tamil people from the cruel grip of the LTTE. We all must now live as equals in this free country," he said. "We must find a homegrown solution to this conflict. That solution should be acceptable to all the communities. We have to find a solution based on the philosophy of Buddhism." According to the Sri Lankan army, the chief of the LTTE, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was shot dead by Sri Lankan forces. There were differing accounts of how he met his end. According to one version he was shot while trying to flee the war zone in an ambulance after the final battle in an offensive that has killed thousands of Tamil civilians since January. But the Associated Press reported that he and his top deputies drove an armour-plated van accompanied by a bus filled with rebel fighters toward approaching Sri Lankan forces, sparking a two-hour firefight. Troops eventually fired a rocket at the van, ending the battle.

According to Reuters, the state broadcaster, Rupavahini TV, reported that special forces troops also killed the rebels' intelligence chief, Pottu Amman, and Soosai, the head of the group's "Sea Tiger" naval wing. European Union nations this morning called for an independent war crimes investigation into the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka . The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, said there had been "very grave allegations" of war crimes on both sides of the conflict and "they should be properly investigated". In London overnight there were violent clashes outside the Houses of Parliament involving pro-Tamil demonstrators. A Scotland Yard spokesman said 10 protesters were arrested for a variety for public order offences and a total of 21 officers were treated for minor injuries today as they dealt with the protest. Eight people were reportedly taken to hospital. In a statement, EU foreign ministers appealed to the Sri Lankan government to let UN aid groups into the country to help provide food and medical care to civilians caught in the fighting and to seek reconciliation with the country's minority Tamil population. Yesterday, Gordon Weiss, a UN spokesman, expressed concern about the fate of up to 80,000 people in the combat zone.

A military spokesman said 250 rebels had been killed in the final battle, after 72,000 civilians fled the small war zone over the weekend. According to UN figures, an estimated 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed between 20 January, when a military offensive pushed the rebels into a tiny enclave in the north-east, and 7 May. The army commander, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, told state TV: "We can announce very responsibly that we have liberated the whole country from terrorism." The Press Trust of India said the army was withholding an official announcement of Prabhakaran's death until the completion of DNA tests. Earlier, the military confirmed the deaths of four other leaders of the LTTE, including Prabhakaran's eldest son, Charles Anthony. State television broadcast images said to be of Anthony's body. Prabhakaran was shot dead after government troops moved into the last areas of territory held by the group, according to the Sri Lankan army. An unnamed military source told Reuters: "It was confirmed Prabhakaran was killed when trying to flee in an ambulance before dawn.

We are waiting for the official announcement by the president." Earlier today, troops found the body of Anthony, who was reportedly also a leader of the rebel group. The defence ministry said special forces found the bodies of the rebels' political wing leader, Balasingham Nadesan, the head of the rebels' peace secretariat, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, and one of the top military leaders, known as Ramesh. In a statement it said the bodies of many more rebels were scattered about the area and were not yet identified. Reports of Prabhakaran's death prompted celebrations in the capital, Colombo, but also protest at Britain's perceived support for the Tamils. More than 1,000 demonstrators gathered outside the British high commission, where protesters burned an effigy of Miliband. They threw rotten eggs and stones at the embassy compound, and the effigy was set on fire before being thrown over the high walls. The foreign secretary has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the conflict and for civilians to be allowed to leave the afflicted area.

The developments come after Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, announced on Saturday the defeat of the Tamil rebels, and soldiers seized control of the entire coast for the first time in the war. Rebel official Selvarasa Pathmanathan said in a statement emailed to Associated Press: "This battle has reached its bitter end. "It is our people who are dying now from bombs, shells, illness and hunger. We cannot permit any more harm to befall them. We remain with one last choice to remove the last weak excuse of the enemy for killing our people. We have decided to silence our guns." Meanwhile, a group calling itself the High Security Zone Residents' Liberation Force today threatened to take the war onto the streets of Sri Lanka's towns and cities. A group using the same name has claimed responsibility for previous suicide bombings. It has been regarded as a front for the Tamil Tigers. The Sri Lankan military has warned that sleeper cells around the country are expected to continue to operate even after the defeat of the LTTE's main military force. Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, told the Guardian last month that he expected the LTTE to resort to guerilla tactics once the military campaign was concluded.

"It is not going to end soon," he said. "It will take some time to completely eradicate terrorism from the country, we think about two years." BBC NEWS | South Asia | Tamil Tigers: A fearsome force Tuesday, 2 May, 2000, 12:21 GMT 13:21 UK Tamil Tigers: A fearsome force The Tigers are given rigorous military training From the early 1970s, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have developed into a formidable fighting force involved in guerrilla atacks against the Sri Lankan armed forces and on political targets. The LTTE's power base remains economically deprived Tamil agricultural workers whose families lost their livelihood due to economic reforms in the late 1970s, as well as unemployed urban Tamil youth who faced economic and social discrimination. Help from abroad Different Indian administrations have been responsible for training and arming the Tamil rebels in the past in different parts of the sub-continent. With the expansion of the international wing of the LTTE, which operates from London and Paris, the LTTE made substantial purchases of sophisticated weaponry. Most of the supplies were from the countries of the former Soviet Union.

They have also captured large quantities of arms from the security forces. Most of the finance for the purchase of arms and other political and military activities is raised through expatriate activists in the West. Methods are reported to vary from extortion, illegal trade and front organisations to legitimate business and charities. Dedicated fighters Tamil Tiger recruits are given a rigorous military training and ideological makeover. On passing out, each one is handed a cyanide capsule to be worn around the neck. Martyrdom is achieved through avoiding capture by suicide. The aftermatch of a suicide attack in Colombo The dedication of the rebel force is demonstrated by the very small number who are captured alive by the Sri Lankan security forces. The Tamil Tigers are notorious for their suicide attacks, and the LTTE has carried out at least five times more such attacks than other similar organisations put together. The suicide attackers consist of highly-motivated men and women who turn themselves into human bombs by strapping explosives onto their bodies. Fearsome reputation Women are also recruited into the Tigers The fighting force is said to be around 10,000 men and women, who use artillery, surface-to-air missiles and rocket launchers. They also are known to recruit under-age children to fight.

Apart from fighting a conventional war, the apparent willingness of the Tigers to target civilians has been highlighted in instances when they have deliberately attacked villagers. In one pre-dawn attack in late 1999, Tiger units were accused of hacking to death women and children in a majority Sinhala village. The LTTE is also blamed for ethnically cleansing Jaffna, when they asked all non-Tamils to leave the de facto Tamil state in 1990. Peace efforts Sri Lanka claims capture of Tamil Tiger capital | World news | The Guardian Sri Lanka claims capture of Tamil Tiger capital Suicide bombing hits air force headquarters soon after announcement that government troops control town of Kilinochchi Friday 2 January 2009 06.19 EST First published on Friday 2 January 2009 06.19 EST Close This article is 8 years old Sri Lankan troops have captured the Tamil Tigers' rebel capital, Kilinochchi, the country's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, said today.

Soon after the announcement was made, the Sri Lankan air force headquarters in the capital, Colombo, was hit by a suicide bomb attack in which 30 people were injured, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said. Prasad Ariyawansa, a doctor at the Colombo National hospital, said 30 people had been admitted with blast injuries following the suicide attack by a man on a motorbike. In a televised address to the nation, Rajapaksa said government troops had taken control of Kilinochchi for the first time in a decade and appealed to Tamil Tiger rebels to lay down their arms. "We should pay the gratitude of the whole nation to those heroic soldiers who achieved that victory," he said. The capture of Kilinochchi is a major blow to the rebels, who have waged a 25-year war for a separate state for the nation's Tamil minority. It followed months of fierce fighting on the outskirts, in which scores of people have been killed. Analysts said the fall of Kilinochchi would be devastating to the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who have used it as their political and military headquarters for the past decade.

"The fall of Kilinochchi means the LTTE will have their only territory in Mullaitivu," said Iqbal Athas, a defence analyst with Jane's Defence, referring to a rebel stronghold in the north-east. "I would not say this is the end of the war, but it may be the beginning of the shrinking of major LTTE-dominated areas." Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu, a political analyst, told Reuters: "The capture indicates very clearly that the LTTE's attempt to build up a quasi-state has now collapsed." A year ago, Rajapaksa's government formally scrapped a six-year truce with the Tamil separatists, brokered by Norway, saying the rebels were using it as cover to regroup and rearm. Recent government military offensives have forced the rebels from much of their territory in the north of the island. This week, the Tamil Tigers' political leader, Balasingham Nadesan, said the movement had begun as a guerrilla group and would be able to keep fighting even if it lost much of the territory it controlled in the north.

The Tamil Tigers - TIME The Tamil Tigers Follow @TIME The Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka are undoubtedly one of the most organized, effective and brutal terrorist groups in the world. They invented the suicide vest and, according to the FBI, are the only terrorist group to have assassinated two world leaders. The rebels, based in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, have been waging a violent offensive against the central government on and off for more than 20 years. Federal forces recently announced they had captured the Tigers' capital, Kilinochchi , but it's a safe bet that, regardless of territory lost or possibly dwindling ranks, the guerillas will not give up their fight willingly. The Tigers  which include 5,000 to 10,000 guerillas  are fighting to secede from the the island country of Sri Lanka. Tamils originally immigrated to Sri Lanka from southern India and make up 10 to 15% of the population, compared to the majority Sinhalese, who constitute about 75%. In 1972, the Sinhalese-controlled Sri Lankan government declared Sinhala and Buddhism the official language and religion.

The Tamils, who practice Hinduism and have their own language, took this action as an affront, and Vellupillai Prabhakaran founded the Tigers soon after. The group is formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). ( See pictures of Sri Lanka on the brink of civil war in 2006 ) During the first years of their existence, the Tigers were one of several resistance groups competing for support from the Sri Lankan Tamil population. But after a 1983 LTTE attack on Sri Lankan security forces sparked riots across the country that left hundreds of Tamils dead, they emerged as the dominate Tamil insurgent group. Since then, the Tigers have plotted many brutal attacks, including more than 200 by suicide bombers, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans have been killed in the conflict and more have been displaced. The LTTE has bombed public buildings and transportation hubs, Buddhist temples and other locations, and is known for missions involving female suicide bombers and for recruitment of child soldiers. Fighters reportedly wear cyanide capsules around their necks that they swallow if they are about to be captured by government forces.

The Tamils have ground and sea forces and are well armed with rockets, grenade launchers and other weapons. The Indian government, which reportedly provided some quiet support to the LTTE in its early years, sent peacekeeping troops to Sri Lanka in the late 1980s to help quell the violence ravaging the country. Unable to stop the bloodshed, they pulled out by 1990. Throughout the following decade, the Tigers continued to mount violent attacks, assassinating the president in 1993 and the former Prime Minister of India in 1991 , among others. Through their history, the Tigers have financed their operations with bank robberies and drug smuggling, among other illegal acts. They are also believed to get much of their support from ethnic Tamils living in Western Europe and Canada. Some estimates say the LTTE raises more than $200 million a year. The most recent cease-fire agreement between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government, brokered by Norway in 2002, was constantly broken and the government officially pulled out of it in January 2008 .

In the past year, the federal forces have tried to forcefully put down the Tigers, pushing into their strongholds and leading up to the January 2 capture of Kilinochchi. In a speech announcing the takeover, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa called on the Tamil Tigers to surrender. Hours later, a suicide bomber struck the air force headquarters in the country's capital, Colombo, killing at least two. Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (aka Tamil Tigers) (Sri Lanka, separatists) - Council on Foreign Relations Council on Foreign Relations Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Aka Tamil Tigers) (Sri Lanka, Separatists) Connect With Us: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (aka Tamil Tigers) (Sri Lanka, separatists) Author: Preeti Bhattacharji How does the Sri Lankan government handle the LTTE? Introduction The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers, are a separatist group in Sri Lanka. Since the 1980s, the LTTE have been agitating for a homeland for ethnic Tamils, who feel persecuted by Sri Lanka's ethnic majority, the Sinhalese.

The LTTE is notorious for having pioneered the suicide bomb jacket, as well as the use of women in suicide attacks. They are blamed for a dozen high-level assassinations, over two hundred suicide attacks, and its war against the government has cost more than seventy thousand lives. In May 2009, the Sri Lankan government declared the twenty-six year long conflict had ended. The military claimed it had defeated the rebels and killed the LTTE's elusive leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran. The group conceded defeat and in a statement said it had decided to lay down its arms. However, some experts warn it may be too early to write off the group, which has proved to be a ruthless guerilla outfit in the past. Both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan military have been accused of engaging in abductions, extortion, conscription, and the use of child soldiers. Share Email Who are the Tamils? The Tamils are an ethnic group that lives in southern India (mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu) and on Sri Lanka, an island of 21 million people off the southern tip of India.

Most Tamils live in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, and they comprise approximately 10 percent of the island's population, according to a 2001 government census. Their religion (most are Hindu) and Tamil language set them apart from the four-fifths of Sri Lankans who are Sinhalese—members of a largely Buddhist, Sinhala-speaking ethnic group. When Sri Lanka was ruled as Ceylon by the British, most Sri Lankans regarded the Tamil minority as collaborators with imperial rule and resented the Tamil's perceived preferential treatment. But since Sri Lanka became independent in 1948, the Sinhalese majority has dominated the country. The remainder of Sri Lanka's population includes ethnic Muslims, as well as Tamil and Sinhalese Christians. What kind of terrorist attacks have the LTTE undertaken? The LTTE, which may have between 7,000 and 15,000 armed combatants (PDF) , is notorious for its suicide bombings. Since the late 1980s, the group has conducted approximately two hundred suicide attacks. Targets have included transit hubs, Buddhist shrines, and office buildings.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the LTTE invented the suicide belt and pioneered the use of women in suicide attacks. LTTE fighters wear cyanide capsules around their necks so they can commit suicide if they are captured. Beyond suicide bombings, the LTTE has used conventional bombs and Claymore mines to attack political and civilian targets, and has gunned down both Sri Lankan officials and civilians. In an April 2008 report, the U.S. State Department also accuses the LTTE of engaging in abductions and extortion . According to the report, violations of the 2002 cease-fire agreement by both the LTTE and the government have killed more than 5,000 people since 2006.* Many of the LTTE's victims have been public officials. Over the past twenty years, the LTTE has been accused of assassinating almost a dozen high-level figures, including two heads of state.

Assassinations and attacks on officials allegedly committed by the LTTE include: The May 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at a campaign rally in India; the May 1993 assassination of Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa; the July 1999 assassination of a Sri Lankan member of parliament, Neelan Thiruchelvam, an ethnic Tamil involved in a government-sponsored peace initiative; a pair of December 1999 suicide bombings in Colombo that wounded Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga; the June 2000 assassination of Sri Lankan Industry Minister C.V. Goonaratne; the August 2005 assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar; the January 2008 assassination of a member of parliament from the opposition United National Party (UNP), T. Maheswaran; the January 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Nation-Building Minister D. M.

Dassanayake; the February 2008 assassination of two cadres of the political party and paramilitary group Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP); and the April 2008 assassination of Sri Lankan Highway Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle. How have recent peace efforts fared? While the LTTE was active in the months leading up to September 11, 2001, a lull in violence preceded a February 2002 cease-fire agreement. Whether the 9/11 attacks encouraged this is not clear. Later that year, rebels and the government reached a power-sharing agreement in hopes of achieving a lasting peace. Violence resumed in July 2004 when a suicide bomber strapped explosives to her body in Colombo, killing herself and four policemen. The LTTE claimed the attack was "an operation of some elements who are working to disrupt peace efforts," accusing the military and police of backing a breakaway LTTE leader responsible for the suicide bombing.

Tensions continued to rise until the December 2004 earthquake and tsunami, which killed more than 30,000 people in Sri Lanka and brought relative peace between the rebels and the government. But the August 2005 assassination of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar-for which the rebels are blamed though they deny any involvement-disrupted the peace and once again put the LTTE at odds with the Sri Lankan government. By July 2006, fighting had reached its worst levels since the period before the 2002 ceasefire. Hundreds have been killed in the most recent wave of violence, and the United Nations reports tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. The Sri Lankan government unilaterally pulled out of the 2002 cease-fire agreement in January 2008, and Nordic cease-fire monitors withdrew from the country. The government increased military operations against the Tigers, and in May 2009 claimed it had defeated the rebel group.

According to South Asia Terrorism Portal, a terrorism database, more than 13,000 people were killed in 2009, including over 9,000 civilians, the highest number of casualties in a single year since the conflict began. Does the LTTE have ties to al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups? Experts say that the secular, nationalist LTTE has no operational connection with al-Qaeda , its radical Islamist affiliates, or other terrorist groups. However, some of the Tigers' innovations—such as the "jacket" apparatus worn by individual suicide bombers—have been copied by al-Qaeda, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah , and Palestinian groups such as Hamas and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades . In its early days, experts say the LTTE did train with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The group may still interact with other terrorist organizations through illegal arms markets in Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia. How does the Sri Lankan government handle the LTTE? Since the end of the 2002 cease-fire, the Sri Lankan government has aggressively pursued LTTE fighters.

Halfway through 2007, the Sri Lankan government took effective control of Sri Lanka's eastern province, though it has had trouble defeating LTTE combatants in the north. On its website, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense catalogues alleged victories against the LTTE. The United States has helped train Sri Lankan forces in agencies that relate to counterterrorism. According to the State Department, the government of Sri Lanka cooperated with the United States to implement both the Container Security Initiative and the Megaports program at the port of Colombo. But the Sri Lankan government has also attracted widespread criticism for its alleged human rights abuses. Like the LTTE, the Sri Lankan government has been accused of engaging in extrajudicial killings, abductions, extortion, conscription, and the use of child soldiers. In August 2007, Human Rights Watch released a report that catalogues the various human rights abuses conducted in Sri Lanka by both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan military. In January 2009, Human Rights Watch said both the government and the LTTE were placing civilians at risk in their ongoing war.

Brad Adams, the organization's Asia director, said: "The government and the LTTE appear to be holding a perverse contest to determine who can show the least concern for civilian protection." * Editor's Note: Corrects to say U.S. State Department attributed deaths to both LTTE and the Sri Lankan government. Highlights From 2015–2016 Learn more about CFR’s mission and its work over the past year in the 2016 Annual Report . The Annual Report spotlights new initiatives, high-profile events, and authoritative scholarship from CFR experts, and includes a message from CFR President Richard N. Haass. Read and download » The Chronicle The Fall 2016 issue of CFR's member newsletter, the Chronicle, is a guide to CFR's most important news since August 2016, and includes announcements about new programs, partnerships, fellows, meetings, publications, and members. Read it now. Now Available: Foreign Policy Begins at Home The biggest threat to America's security and prosperity comes not from abroad but from within, writes CFR President Richard N. Haass in his provocative new book.

More New Foreign Affairs eBook: Tiananmen and After Tamil Tigers admit defeat | Toronto Star World Tamil Tigers admit defeat The Tamil Tigers admitted defeat Sunday in their fierce quarter-century war for a separate homeland as government forces raced to clear the last pockets of rebel resistance from the war zone in the north. The fate of the Tiger chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was unknown. Fireworks explode as Sri Lankans in Colombo celebrate what the government says is the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the country, May 17, 2009. (David Gray / REUTERS) By Bharatha MallwarachiTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sun., May 17, 2009 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – The Tamil Tigers admitted defeat Sunday in their fierce quarter-century war for a separate homeland as government forces raced to clear the last pockets of rebel resistance from the war zone in the north. The fate of the Tiger chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was unknown. Far from the battlefield, thousands of Sri Lankans danced in the streets of Colombo, celebrating the stunning collapse of one of the world's most sophisticated insurgencies.

Several rebel fighters committed suicide when they were surrounded, but it wasn't clear whether Prabhakaran or other leaders were among them. The Tigers once controlled a shadow state complete with courts, police and a tax system across a wide swath of the north. By Sunday, troops had surrounded the remaining rebels in a tiny patch of land and were fighting off suicide bombs and other attacks, the military said. Huge clouds of black smoke rose over the battlefield as soldiers inspected the charred remains of rebel trucks and heavy artillery pieces, according to footage broadcast on state television. Civilians carrying backpacks and rolling suitcases were escorted from the area. Article Continued Below Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said the civilians who had been trapped in the war zone – 63,000 in all – fled to safety during the past 72 hours. But rebel official Selvarasa Pathmanathan said the bodies of thousands of wounded and slain civilians lay strewn across the war zone. "This battle has reached its bitter end," Pathmanathan said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. "It is our people who are dying now from bombs, shells, illness and hunger. We cannot permit any more harm to befall them.

We remain with one last choice – to remove the last weak excuse of the enemy for killing our people. We have decided to silence our guns." Media Minister Anura Yapa dismissed the appeal. "We want to free this country from the terrorist LTTE," he said, referring to the group by its formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The military spokesman denied the rebels had laid down their weapons. "Fighting is still going on in small pockets," Nanayakkara said. Rights groups have accused the rebels of holding civilians as human shields, and blamed the government for shelling the densely populated area where they sought refuge. Both sides denied the accusations. With most journalists and aid workers barred from the war zone, it was not possible to verify the accounts of either side. Health officials in the area have said thousands of civilians were killed in shelling since the beginning of the year. The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for Sri Lanka's ethnic Tamil minority after years of marginalization at the hands of the Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said that after defeating the rebels, his government will begin talks toward power sharing and political reconciliation between the two communities. But many Tamils are skeptical that the victorious government will be willing to make real concessions. At their height, the rebels controlled 14,000 square kilometres, nearly one-fifth of this Indian Ocean island country. They had a conventional army complete with artillery batteries, a large navy and even a nascent air force, funded by an estimated $200 million to $300 million a year they made from smuggling, fraud and appeals to Tamil expatriates. The Tigers also carried out hundreds of suicide attacks – including the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi – and were listed as a terror group by India, Canada and others. A 2002 ceasefire briefly halted the fighting, but it broke down more than three years ago, and Rajapaksa vowed to destroy the rebels. With victory all but assured, Rajapaksa raced home from a trip abroad and was blessed at the airport Sunday morning by Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu and Muslim clerics. He scheduled a nationally televised news conference for Tuesday morning at parliament.

Sri Lankans poured into the streets of the capital, Colombo, lighting firecrackers, dancing to the beat of traditional drums, waving the flag and hugging soldiers. "We all will be able to live in peace in our motherland again," said Jinadasa Liyanage, 26. Yet the fate of Prabhakaran, the founder and unquestioned leader of the Tigers, and his top deputies remained unclear. A senior military official said troops found the bodies of several rebel fighters who had committed suicide Sunday when troops surrounded them. The bodies were suspected of being that of Prabhakaran and his deputies, but the military was still trying to confirm their identities, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. In an interview with Britain's Channel 4 news, Pathmanathan said he had spoken with Prabhakaran personally and the rebel leader remained inside the war zone. The portly, mustachioed Prabhakaran led the Tigers for more than three decades, transforming it from little more than a street gang into a feared guerrilla group. He is seen as the heart and soul of the movement.

The rebels have said that if they lost the conventional war they would return to their guerrilla roots. The war zone was wracked by chaos Sunday, as troops sought to mop up the final pockets of resistance, Nanayakkara said. At least one suicide bomber attacked troops in the morning, the latest in a wave of rebel attacks on the advancing forces in recent days, he said. Troops killed at least 70 rebels trying to flee by boat, the military said. Pope Benedict said Sunday he was praying for peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka and called on aid groups to do everything possible to care for the fleeing civilians. "There are thousands of children, women, old people for whom the war has taken years of their lives and hope," Benedict said. In Toronto, thousands of Tamils took to the streets in yet another day of protests Sunday, urging the Canadian government to impose political and economic sanctions on Sri Lanka. The protesters were also planning to hold a candlelight vigil for a second day in a row. With files from The Canadian Press. Read more about: Attack kills Tamil Tiger leader - CNN.com Attack kills Tamil Tiger leader Story Highlights S. P.

Thamilselvam, "peace negotiator" during talks with government, killed Friday Died, along with five others, in air force attack on northern Sri Lankan port Air strike comes two weeks after rebel pre-dawn raid on Sri Lankan air force base Tamil Tigers fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland in the north and east VIDEO COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (CNN) -- A key political leader of the Sri Lankan rebel group, the Tamil Tigers, was killed Friday along with five other rebel officers during an air strike in the country's embattled north, the guerrillas said in a statement on a Tamil-affiliated Web site. S. P. Thamilselvam was killed by the Sri Lankan air force during an "aerial bombardment" Friday at 6:00 a.m. local time in Kilinochchi -- a rebel held part in the country's north. According to CNN contributor, journalist Iqbal Athas, Thamilselvam acted as the group's "peace negotiator" during talks with the Sri Lankan government.

"The Sri Lanka Air Force attack has targeted the residence of the members of the Political Division," the rebel statement said, also naming the five others killed as Lt. Col. Anpumani, Maj. Mikuthan, Capt. Neathaji, Lt. Aadchiveal and Lt. Vaakaikkumaran. The Associated Press reported comments on the attack by Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. "This is a message that we know their leaders' location," he said. "This confirms that our information is very accurate." The strike came nearly two weeks after rebels launched a pre-dawn land and air attack on a Sri Lankan air force base that killed 10 Sri Lankan forces and wiped out military hardware worth millions of dollars, according to military sources. There was no immediate response from the military about Friday's attack that killed Thamilselvam. Don't Miss Sri Lanka profile - Timeline - BBC News Sri Lanka profile - Timeline Close share panel A chronology of key events: Fifth century BC - Indo-Aryan migrants from northern India settle on the island; the Sinhalese emerge as the most powerful of the various clans.

Image copyright AFP Image caption Tea exports are a mainstay of the economy Third century BC - Beginning of Tamil migration from India. 1505 - Portuguese arrive in Colombo, marking beginning of European interest. 1658 - Dutch force out Portuguese and establish control over whole island except central kingdom of Kandy. 1796 - Britain begins to take over island. 1815 - Kingdom of Kandy conquered. Britain starts bringing in Tamil labourers from southern India to work in tea, coffee and coconut plantations. 1833 - Whole island united under one British administration. 1931 - British grant the right to vote and introduce power sharing with Sinhalese-run cabinet. 1948 - Ceylon gains full independence. Sinhala nationalism 1949 - Indian Tamil plantation workers disenfranchised and many deprived of citizenship. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Security was tightened when parliament considered watering down the Sinhala-only language law in 1958 1956 - Solomon Bandaranaike elected on wave of Sinhalese nationalism. Sinhala made sole official language and other measures introduced to bolster Sinhalese and Buddhist feeling.

More than 100 Tamils killed in widespread violence after Tamil parliamentarians protest at new laws. 1958 - Anti-Tamil riots leave more than 200 people dead. Thousands of Tamils displaced. 1959 - Bandaranaike assassinated by a Buddhist monk. Succeeded by widow, Srimavo, who continues nationalisation programme. 1965 - Opposition United National Party wins elections and attempts to reverse nationalisation measures. 1970 - Srimavo Bandaranaike returns to power and extends nationalisation programme. Ethnic tensions 1971 - Sinhalese Marxist uprising led by students and activists. 1972 - Ceylon changes its name to Sri Lanka and Buddhism given primary place as country's religion, further antagonising Tamil minority. 1976 - Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) formed as tensions increase in Tamil-dominated areas of north and east. 1977 - Separatist Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) party wins all seats in Tamil areas. Anti-Tamil riots leave more than 100 Tamils dead.

1981 Sinhala policemen accused of burning the Jaffna Public Library, causing further resentment in Tamil community. 1983 - 13 soldiers killed in LTTE ambush, sparking anti-Tamil riots leading to the deaths of several hundred Tamils. Start of what Tigers call "First Eelam War". Civil war intensifies 1985 - First attempt at peace talks between government and LTTE fails. 1987 - Government forces push LTTE back into northern city of Jaffna. Government signs accords creating new councils for Tamil areas in north and east and reaches agreement with India on deployment of Indian peace-keeping force. 1988 - Left-wing and nationalist Sinhalese JVP begins campaign against Indo-Sri Lankan agreement. 1990 - Indian troops leave after getting bogged down in fighting in north. Violence between Sri Lankan army and separatists escalates. "Second Eelam War" begins. Thousands of Muslims are expelled from northern areas by the LTTE. 1991 - LTTE implicated in assassination of Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi in southern India. War and diplomacy 1993 - President Premadasa killed in LTTE bomb attack.

Image copyright AP Image caption A rebel attack on the airport destroyed much of the national fleet in 2001 1994 - President Kumaratunga comes to power pledging to end war. Peace talks opened with LTTE. 1995 - "Third Eelam War" begins when rebels sink naval craft. 1995-2001 - War rages across north and east. Tigers bomb Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist site. President Kumaratunga is wounded in a bomb attack. Suicide attack on the international airport destroys half the Sri Lankan Airlines fleet. Peace moves 2002 February - Government and Tamil Tiger rebels sign a Norwegian-mediated ceasefire. De-commissioning of weapons begins; the road linking the Jaffna peninsula with the rest of Sri Lanka reopens after 12 years; passenger flights to Jaffna resume. Government lifts ban on Tamil Tigers. Rebels drop demand for separate state. 2003 - Tigers pull out of talks. Ceasefire holds. 2003 May - Country's worst-ever floods leave more than 200 people dead and drive some 4,000 people from their homes.

2004 March - Renegade Tamil Tiger commander, known as Karuna, leads split in rebel movement and goes underground with his supporters. Tiger offensive regains control of the east. 2004 July - Suicide bomb blast in Colombo - the first such incident since 2001. 2004 December - More than 30,000 people are killed when a tsunami, massive waves generated by a powerful undersea earthquake, devastate coastal communities. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A Tsunami killed thousands in 2004 2005 June - Row over deal reached with Tamil Tiger rebels to share nearly $3bn in tsunami aid among Sinhalas, Tamils and Muslims. 2005 August - State of emergency after foreign minister is killed by a suspected Tiger assassin. 2005 November - Mahinda Rajapaksa, prime minister at the time, wins presidential elections. Most Tamils in areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers do not vote. Mounting violence 2006 April - Attacks begin to escalate again. A suicide bomber attacks the main military compound in Colombo, killing at least eight people. The military launch air strikes on Tamil Tiger targets.

2006 May - Tamil Tiger rebels attack a naval convoy near Jaffna. 2006 August - Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces resume fighting in the north-east in worst clashes since 2002 ceasefire. Government steadily drives Tamil Tigers out of eastern strongholds over following year. 2006 October - Peace talks fail in Geneva. REBEL KINGPIN Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in 2009 after a life-time fighting for a Tamil state 2007 June - Police force hundreds of Tamils out of the capital, citing security concerns. A court orders an end to the expulsions. 2008 January - Government pulls out of 2002 ceasefire agreement, launches massive offensive. 2008 March - International panel, invited by the government to monitor investigations into alleged human rights abuses, announces that it is leaving the country. Panel member Sir Nigel Rodley says the authorities were hindering its work. Government rejects the criticism. 2008 July - Sri Lankan military says it has captured the important Tamil Tiger naval base of Vidattaltivu in the north.

2008 October - Suicide bombing blamed by government on Tamil Tigers kills 27 people, including a former general, in the town of Anuradhpura. 2008 December - Sri Lankan troops and Tamil rebels claim to have inflicted heavy casualties on each other in fierce fighting in the north. 2009 January - Government troops capture the northern town of Kilinochchi, held for ten years by the Tamil Tigers as their administrative headquarters. President Mahinda Rajapakse calls it an unparalleled victory and urges the rebels to surrender. 2009 February - International concern over the humanitarian situation of thousands of civilians trapped in the battle zone prompts calls for a temporary cease-fire. This is rejected by the government, which says it is on the verge of destroying the Tamil Tigers, but it offers an amnesty to rebels if they surrender. Tamil Tiger planes conduct suicide raids against Colombo. Tamil Tigers defeated 2009 March - Former rebel leader Karuna is sworn in as minister of national integration and reconciliation. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay accuses both sides of war crimes.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Sri Lankan troops allegedly executed rebels in the closing days of the war The government rejects conditions attached to an IMF emergency loan worth $1.9 billion, denies US pressure causing delay to agreement. 2009 May - Government declares Tamil Tigers defeated after army forces overrun last patch of rebel-held territory in the northeast. Military says rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in the fighting. Tamil Tiger statement says the group will lay down its arms. 2009 August - New Tamil Tiger leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan captured overseas by Sri Lankan authorities. First post-war local elections in north. Governing coalition wins in Jaffna but in Vavuniya voters back candidates who supported Tamil Tigers. 2009 October - Government announces early presidential and parliamentary elections. 2009 November - Opposition parties form alliance to fight elections. The new alliance includes Muslim and Tamil parties and is led by former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Government says 100,000 refugees released from camps.

Rajapaksa re-elected 2010 January - Incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa wins presidential election by a big margin but the outcome is rejected by his main rival Gen Sarath Fonseka. Image copyright AFP Image caption Schoolgirls in Jaffna, in the north: Much of the population in northern and northeastern Sri Lanka are Tamil-speakers and Hindu 2010 February - Gen Fonseka is arrested on corruption charges, and jailed for 30 months by a military court in September. He is convicted of further charges in November 2011 and sentenced to another three years in jail. President Rajapaksa dissolves parliament, clearing way for elections in April. European Union suspends Sri Lanka's preferential trade status because of concerns over its human rights record. 2010 April - President Rajapaksa's ruling coalition wins landslide victory in parliamentary elections. 2010 September - Parliament approves a constitutional change allowing President Rajapaksa to seek unlimited number of terms. Human rights concerns 2011 April - UN says both sides in the Sri Lankan civil war committed atrocities against civilians and calls for an international investigation into possible war crimes.

Sri Lanka says the report is biased. Image copyright AFP Image caption Buddhism is the religion of 70% of Sri Lankans and predominant in Sinhala-speaking areas 2011 July - Sri Lanka's largest ethnic Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance, wins two-thirds of local councils in the former war zone in the north and east. 2011 August - President Rajapaksa says his government will allow the expiry of state emergency laws which have been in place for most of the past 40 years. However, critics say that the introduction of new legislation that allows the detention of people suspected of terror offences without charge continues the state of emergency in a new guise. 2012 March - UN Human Rights Council adopts a resolution urging Sri Lanka to investigate war crimes allegedly committed during the final phase of the decades-long conflict with Tamil Tiger rebels. Sri Lanka says the move usurps its sovereignty. Fonseka freed 2012 May - Former army chief and opposition presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka is freed after two and a half years in jail, under terms banning him from running for public office for seven years.

2012 November - The government dismisses a UN report that it intimidated UN staff investigating abuses at the end of the civil war in 2009. 2013 January - Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake is dismissed after parliament impeaches her for allegations of financial and official misconduct described by the opposition as politically motivated. The government's senior legal adviser, Mohan Peiris, replaces her. 2013 March - UN Human Rights Council passes highly critical resolution urging Sri Lanka to conduct an independent and credible investigation into alleged war crimes during the Tamil Tiger insurgency. 2013 August - UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay accuses government of eroding democracy and the rule of law after a week-long visit. 2013 September - Tamil National Alliance opposition party wins first elections to semi-autonomous provincial council in the north, with 78% of the vote. Commonwealth observers say army intimidation compromised the vote's environment. 2013 November - Sri Lanka hosts the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The leaders of Canada, India and Mauritius refuse to attend amid calls for a boycott over Sri Lanka's human rights record.

2014 August - President Mahinda Rajapaksa says a UN team tasked with investigating allegations of war crimes during the Tamil Tiger insurgency will not be allowed to enter Sri Lanka. 2015 January - Maithripala Sirisena becomes president. 2015 September - Rajavarothiam Sampanthan becomes the first lawmaker from the ethnic Tamil minority in 32 years to become leader of the opposition in parliament. 2015 September - Sri Lanka rejects a UN call for international involvement in an investigation into war crimes. 2015 October - Sri Lanka co-sponsors a UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for a special judicial mechanism to prosecute war crimes. 2016 June - Sri Lankan government acknowledges for the first time that some 65,000 people are missing from its 26-year-long war with Tamil Tiger rebels and a separate Marxist insurrection. 2016 July - The government announces its aim for Sri Lanka to become completely demilitarised by 2018, a significant development which would see the end of the army's involvement in civilian life after decades of ethnic war.

2016 August - Parliament passes a law to establish an office to trace the thousands of people who disappeared during the war and separate Marxist insurrection. 2016 September - The World Health Organisation declares Sri Lanka malaria-free. Tamil Tigers prepare for last stand in Sri Lanka - but military victory is not political peace - Telegraph Sri Lanka Tamil Tigers prepare for last stand in Sri Lanka - but military victory is not political peace The Sri Lankan government believes it is close to victory over the country's famous rebel movement - but it may have miscalculated. Sri Lankan army soldiers ride a battle tank in the Tamil Tiger rebels' fallen administrative capital of Kilinochchi Photo: AP By Dean Nelson, South Asia editor 7:46PM GMT 06 Jan 2009 If the Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa is to be believed, the Tamil Tigers, the rebel movement which inspired a new generation of suicide bombers, are about to be defeated, bringing his country's 25-year civil war to an end.

In the week since his army captured Kilinochchi, the Tigers' administrative capital in the north of Sri Lanka, Rajapaksa has made a series of triumphalist claims, including the boast that this key victory was won without a single civilian casualty. There is no doubting the military significance of the loss of the Tigers' capital. Since the government abandoned a ceasefire in January last year, it has pushed the Tigers back towards their last strongholds on the far north of the island. The civilian courts, police forces and the other trappings of statehood enjoyed by the rebels have been abandoned in the face of the government's relentless advance. And as the Tigers have run for cover in the jungle, their "Sea Tigers" naval force and squadron of "Air Tigers" have had less room for manoeuvre. Rajapaksa anticipates a final victory and is salivating at the prospect. Earlier this week, he compared his "zero civilian casualty" policy with the bloodshed in Gaza and claimed his main priority was feeding civilians trapped behind Tiger lines, even if it meant feeding Tamil fighters, too. "We are feeding the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]. We won't keep them hungry," he said.

The Tamil cause and the military campaign for autonomy took off significantly in 1983 when youths from the majority Sinhalese Buddhists in the south of the country savaged their Tamil countrymen in a series of pogroms. An estimated 3,000 Tamils were beaten and hacked to death in retaliation for a Tamil Tiger ambush which killed 13 Sri Lankan soldiers. Remembered as the "Black July" killings, they had the effect of radicalising young Tamil students, who then joined the Tigers and other militant groups in large numbers. The Tigers became one of the world's most brutal and successful terrorist groups. They refined suicide bombing to a new martial art, and carried out targeted assassinations of political leaders and attacks on military bases. Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Primadasa was killed by a suicide bomber on a bicycle at a May Day rally in 1993. Three and a half years before that, former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a female Tiger, who detonated a suicide vest at an election rally in revenge for his role in sending an Indian peacekeeping force into the country.

The group's creation of Sea Tigers, using small speedboats to attack Sri Lankan Navy vessels, is believed to have inspired the al-Qaeda attack on the American destroyer USS Cole off the coast of Aden in 2000. The LTTE is also regarded as one of the world's most successful illegal fundraising organisations. Now, with Sri Lankan troops in control of the Tamil capital, the stage is set for the Tigers' last stand as a conventional military force. They must defend the only part of the island they still control: the Elephant Pass and the jungle coast of the Mullaithivu district. Rajapaksa may be mistaken if he thinks the war will end quickly, or that crushing Tamil resistance will bring peace to his ravaged country. Diplomats fear the government's "final solution", focusing on crushing the Tigers militarily, may prove to be the recruiting sergeant dreamed of by rebel leaders and herald a newer, bloodier, insurgency. As Rajapaksa's army has pressed north, Tamil civilians have abandoned their homes and followed the retreating Tiger commanders. According to diplomats, they have effectively been taken hostage, and are being as human shields in an attempt to force the army to back off or face a propaganda defeat.

Thousands are believed to have abandoned their homes and some have been forced to move as many as 13 times. Those who stayed put have been forced into government "welfare camps", where they are prevented from working or returning to their lives while they are screened. As the Tigers prepare for their last stand, diplomats predict a long and bloody battle – LTTE officials knew they would not be able to defend their capital and instead shifted their heavy artillery, planes and armed speedboats to safe areas. They now have nothing to lose and nowhere to run. Sadly, there is no plan to transform a military victory into a political peace. An all party committee has failed to produce proposals to address the grievances which sparked the Tamil rebellion, and diplomats fear Rajapaksa's victory will simply change the nature of the conflict into a more dangerous and unpredictable one in which more civilians and tourists could be caught in the crossfire. The great tragedy for Sri Lanka is that few now care.

To date more than 70,000 people have been killed in 25 years of conflict on the island, but the endless war between Tamil and Sinhalese, Buddhist and Hindu, on a small tropical island is a long way from the dusty frontlines of the global war on terror and the clash between civilisations closer to home.

Question: The Tamil Tigers are a rebel force in which country?
Answer: Sri Lanka