A short history of LTTE:
The LTTE was started from the remnants of the Tamil New Tigers (TNT). (The TNT gained notoriety in 1975 following its assassination of Tamil mayor of Jaffna Alfred Duraiyappah. However, it was struck a fatal blow in 1976, after its leader was arrested.) From its founding, the LTTE has sought to develop the image of an elite, professional and dedicated fighting force. This image was designed initially as much to distinguish the LTTE from other, better-established Tamil separatist groups as to intimidate its principal set of opponents: the Sri Lankan government and the country’s ethnic Sinhalese majority.
A key moment in the development of the LTTE was the widespread ethnic riots that convulsed Sri Lanka in July 1983. The riots were sparked by an LTTE land mine ambush that killed 13 SLAF soldiers in Jaffna, and led to widespread attacks against Tamils. Thousands of Tamils who had shunned violence before were now drawn to LTTE after these incidents.
During its opening period of operations, the organization’s tactic of choice was assassination. The LTTE’s targeting efforts were directed principally against rival Tamils and Tamil and Sinhalese government officials and security forces. Later, as an almost logical extension of these calculated political killings, suicide bombing became the LTTE signature mode of attack.
Over the years, LTTE suicide attacks have been carried out to support two distinctly different campaigns: a rural campaign (primarily against SLAF elements) and an urban campaign (against critical national infrastructure and VIPs.) Since many of the latter actions take place in and around Colombo and at times have caused significant numbers of collateral casualties, LTTE attacks against non-military targets are never (or rarely) claimed. The Tigers continue to insist that “it is not the policy of the LTTE to attack civilian targets”For instance, it has never taken credit for the suicide truck bombing of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in January 1996, or the 1994 assasination of presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake, which resulted in 54 killed and 72 injured.
TIMELINE
PRE-CIVIL WAR PHASE
1975 - Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) founded as a successor to Tamil New Tigers (TNT). The TNT was started in 1972, soon after the promulgation of the Republican Constitution.
The LTTE initially carried out a campaign of violence against the state, particularly targeting policemen and also moderate Tamil politicians who attempted a dialogue with the government. Their first major operation was the assassination of the mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah in 1975.In fact, the modus operandi of the early war was based on assassinations. The assassination in 1977 of a Tamil Member of Parliament, M. Canagaratnam, was carried out personally by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE. Initially, the LTTE operated in cooperation with other Tamil militant groups which shared their same objectives
CIVIL WAR STARTS
1983 - In July 1983, the LTTE launched a deadly attack on the military in the north of the country, killing 13 soldiers. The government retaliated with riots in Colombo, the capital, and elsewhere. Between 400 and 3,000 Tamils were estimated to have been killed, and many more fled Sinhalese-majority areas. Large number of government forces are deployed in the north and east.This is usually considered the beginning of the civil war.
The LTTE women’s unit, Vituthalai Pulikal Makalir Munani (Women's Front of the Liberation Tigers), was formed in 1983, and women began combat training in 1985.
The first recruitment of child soldiers into LTTE also begins after the ethnic riots of July 1983. At this stage, LTTE chief Prabhakaran selected Basheer Kaka, an LTTE leader from the harbour city of Trincomalee, to establish a training base in the State of Pondicherry in India for recruits under 16. Initially, the child soldiers - affectionately referred to as 'Tiger cubs' - received non-military training, mostly primary education and physical exercise. By early 1984, the nucleus of the LTTE 'Baby Brigade' or 'Bakuts', was formed.
1984 - The Sea Tigers, LTTE’s navy, were officially founded in 1984. In the first years its primary task was smuggling personnel and equipment between the LTTE's bases in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, in particular Jaffna. As the Sea Tiger cadres gained experience it took on offensive operations against the Sri Lankan Navy.
1985 - Talks to find a political solution to the conflict fail and conflict intensifies.
1986 - In 1986, the LTTE broke from the ENLF and launched an armed attack on members and training camps of TELO, which at the time was the largest Tamil militant group in Sri Lanka.
Over the next few months, virtually the entire TELO leadership and several hundred volunteers were hunted down, and the group ceased to be a potent force. A few months later, the LTTE attacked training camps of the EPRLF, forcing it to withdraw entirely from the Jaffna peninsula.
The LTTE then demanded that all remaining Tamil insurgents join the LTTE. With the major groups including the TELO and EPRLF eliminated, the remaining Tamil insurgent groups, numbering around 20, were then absorbed into the LTTE. This made Jaffna an LTTE dominated city. The effect of the attacks was that the LTTE consolidated the position as the main military group fighting for the cause of Tamil Eelam, with no credible rivals.
IPKF (Indian Peacekeeping Force) PERIOD:
1987
In 1987 the LTTE established the notorious Black Tigers, a unit of the LTTE responsible for conducting suicide attacks against political, economic and military targets, and launched its first suicide attack against a Sri Lanka Army camp, killing 40 soldiers. Since then they have carried out over 170 suicide attacks, more than any other organization in the world, and the suicide attack has become a trademark of the LTTE, and a characteristic of the civil war.
In 1987, government troops pushed the LTTE fighters to the northern city of Jaffna. In April 1987, the conflict exploded with ferocity, as both the government forces and the LTTE fighters engaged each other in a series of bloody operations.
The Sri Lankan military launched an offensive, called “Operation Liberation” or “Vadamarachchi Operation”, during May-June 1987, to regain the territory in Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE's control. This offensive marked the Sri Lankan military's first ever conventional warfare in Sri Lankan soil since independence. The military offensive was successful and the LTTE leader Prabhakaran and the Sea Tiger leader Soosai narrowly escaped from advancing troops at Valvettithurai.
Campaign details:
On May 26, the army moved out of Thondamanaru accompanied by heavy aerial bombing and shelling, particularly in Valvettithurai. There was also military activity, bombing and shelling near the Jaffna Fort. By the 28th, Udupiddy and Valvettithurai had been recaptured. A column of soldiers took Nelliady and advanced northwards to Pt. Pedro. Another group of soldiers advanced eastwards towards Pt. Pedro by moving in three lines. The LTTE was not given the time to regroup or to put up fresh land mine barriers. The LTTE made a quick withdrawal abandoning its vehicles and a large quantity of arms.
This was a historic operation for many reasons. It marked many firsts for the security forces. Operation Liberation was the milestone which marked the first time the Sri Lankan security forces were engaged in conventional warfare. For the first time, the three arms of the army, infantry, support and logistics were organised into two battalions which were commanded by Brigadier Kobbekaduwa and Colonel Wimalarathne. The operation also marked the advent of electronic warfare and the helicopter gunships of the Air force were also effectively used for the first time.
About 8000 troops from the Gemunu Watch and Gajaba Regiments were involved in the recapture of Vadamarachchi. The L.T.T.E. Colonel Wimalarathne would later admit they did not know at the time how close they were to capturing LTTE Leader Prabhakaran in his native Valvettithurai. Due to some delays in sealing the area, Prabhakaran along with current Sea Tiger Leader Soosai were able to make a daring escape from advancing troops. Two days after the operation began, General Officer Commanding, Joint Operations Command, General Cyril Ranatunga called a halt to the offensives and doled out rice, sugar and dhal to the people of the peninsula, who had been displaced by the fighting and had taken shelter in schools and other public buildings. By June 1, 1987 the whole Vadamarachchi sector was under the control of the Sri Lankan security forces.
Faced with growing anger amongst its own Tamils, and a flood of refugees, India intervened directly in the conflict for the first time by initially airdropping food parcels into Jaffna to aid the Tigers while they were under siege by the SLA.
Jul - After subsequent negotiations, India and Sri Lanka entered into an agreement whereby Sri Lanka agreed to a federal structure, which would grant limited autonomy to the Tamils in the northeast, and the Tamil militant groups would all lay down their arms. India was to send a peacekeeping force, named the IPKF to Sri Lanka to enforce the disarmament.
Oct - LTTE reneges on the accord and begins three years of battles with the IPKF that kill more than 1,000 Indian troops.
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 1987, when the LTTE decided to take on the Indian Peace Keeping Force sent to the Island nation as part of the agreement. This was to offset a severe shortage of manpower, because of ever increasing casualties and the escalation of the conflict.
As tensions grew, the LTTE declared a policy of "non-cooperation" with the IPKF on October 5th , and went on to kill an estimated 167 people over the next 24 hours. LTTE cadres killed 42 people in an ambush on a train near Batticaloa, shot dead over 40 Sinhalese civilians in their homes in the city, killed 29 in an ambush on a bus near Lahugala and murdered 35 fisherman in Eravur. By the end of the week, over 5000 Sinhalese civilians fled their homes and took refuge in Temples and army camps.
The result was that the LTTE now found itself engaged in military conflict with the Indian Army, and launched their first attack on an Indian army rations truck on October 8, killing five Indian para-commandos who were on board by strapping burning tires around their necks. The Indian Army launched number of assaults on the LTTE, including a month-long campaign dubbed Operation Pawan to win control of the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE.
Campaign details: Initially the Indians intended to surprise the LTTE leadership which was believed to be operating from the JaffnaUniversity premises. The plan was to drop commandos into the university premises to take out the LTTE leadership while infantry columns would move out from Palaly and link with the commandos in the city. The initial heliborne assault involved a company from the 10th Para battalion. However the LTTE had prior knowledge of this assault since they were listening into the Indian communications. When commandos landed in a soccer field they were immediately pinned down by heavy machine gunfire. Two helicopters were damaged and six commandos killed instantly. A second wave of choppers containing a platoon from the 13 Sikh Light Infantry came under more intense fire, making further reinforcements impossible: all but one of the Sikhs perished. Their battalion commander, Lt. Col. Dalbir Singh, personally led a column of T-72 tanks the next morning to relieve his beleaguered men.
After the failure of the commando assault, the infantry brigades slowly fought their way into JaffnaCity over the next 16 days. Because of heavy LTTE resistance, two more brigades were rushed to Jaffna before the end of the battle.
By the end of November, Jaffna was completely in IPKF hands.
1988
Dec - Ranasinghe Premadasa is elected president after promising to send Indian troops home and begin talks with LTTE.
1990
The Indian intervention was also unpopular amongst the Sinhalese majority, and the IPKF became bogged down in the fighting with the Tamil Tigers for over 2 years, experiencing heavy losses. Following Gandhi’s defeat in Indian parliamentary elections in December 1989, the new prime MinisterV. P. Singh ordered the withdrawal of the IPKF.
The last members of the IPKF, which was estimated to have numbered over 50,000 at its peak, left the country in 1990 upon request of the Sri Lankan government. A shaky peace initially held between the government and the LTTE, and peace talks progressed towards providing devolution for Tamils in the north and east of the country.
The LTTE’s child soldiers saw their first recorded major action on November 22, 1990 in an attack on the Mankulam army camp. Nearly a third of the Sri Lankan troops were killed and the camp was vacated by troops after two days of clashes.
EELAM WAR II PHASE
Eelam War II is the name given to the second phase of armed conflict between Sri Lankan military and the LTTE. This phase started after the failure of peace talks between the Premadasa government and the LTTE and was initiated by the LTTE who massacred almost 600 Tamil and Muslim police personnel after they were ordered by the Premadasa government to surrender to the LTTE.
1990
Jun - Talks fail as LTTE overruns police stations in east. The truce was broken on June 10, 1990.
Fearing defeat in the scheduled elections for the North Eastern Provincial Council,the LTTE pulled out of the talks, carrying out a series of attacks beginning on June 11, 1990, which left an estimated 450 people dead within the first week
Oct - The LTTE in October expelled all the 28,000 Muslims residing in Jaffna.
1991
May - Suspected female Tiger suicide bomber kills Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Support for the LTTE in India dropped considerably after the assassination by an LTTE woman suicide bomber, Thenmuli Rajaratnam.
July- First battle of ElephantPass.The largest battle of the war was in July 1991, when the army's Elephant Pass (Alimankada) base, which controlled access to the Yapanaya (Jaffna) peninsula, was surrounded by 5,000 LTTE troops.More than 2,000 died on both sides in the month-long siege, before 10,000 government troops arrived to relieve the base.
Details of battle:On July 10, 1991, the LTTE launched a massive attack at ElephantPass. The battle for ElephantPass was the most violent and bloody confrontation that ever took place between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army. The LTTE had previously surrounded the base and blocked off routs north and south so no reinforcements could come in. Also at the beginning of July the LTTE moved anti-aircraft guns close to the base so no helicopters can bring in supplies. Thus the 800 troops stationed in the base were trapped. The assault came from the south. On the first day the LTTE captured a few bunkers held by Sri Lankan troops. The LTTE used in the attack steel plated earth moving vehicles and tractors. They fired hundreds of motor rounds on the positions of the armed forces. By the next day the second-in-command of the base was killed in a mortar attack.
Helicopters were not able to land at the base because of heavy enemy fire. Eventually, the Rest House camp in the southern sector of the base, fell into the hands of the LTTE. Sustaining heavy losses, the Sri Lankan troops fell back to the rear positions. Fierce fighting continued for four days before a rescue force was sent. A huge force of 10,000 soldiers was sent. An amphibious landing was conducted at Vettilaikerni, which was just 12 kilometers east of the base. However, so much resistance was encountered from the Tigers that it took them 18 days to reach the ElephantPass base.
With the heavy losses in men and material, the troops finally reached the ElephantPass base, on the evening of August 3. The fighting continued until August 9, when finally the LTTE made a tactical withdrawal. The LTTE suffered 573 Tigers killed according to Tamil sources, but according to SLA sources over 1,000 of them were killed. The Army had 202 dead according to government sources, but according to LTTE sources over 400 were killed. Estimates in later years put the number of dead on both sides to be 2,000 killed. The president called the battle the 'Mother of all Battles', and the LTTE was defeated. However 8 and a half years later the base will be attacked again and that time the Tigers will overrun and take the base