On this day in 1996, a truck loaded with explosives crashed into the central bank in the heart of Colombo’s financial district, killing at least 91.
Tag: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a Tamil militant organisation that was based in northeastern Sri Lanka. Its aim was to secure an independent state of Tamil Eelam in the north and east in response to the state policies of successive Sri Lankan governments towards Tamils.
Founded in May 1976 by Velupillai Prabhakaran, it was involved in armed clashes against the Sri Lankan state forces and by the late 1980s was the dominant Tamil militant group in Sri Lanka. The escalation of intermittent conflict into a full-scale nationalist insurgency however did not commence before the countrywide pogroms against Tamils. Between 1983 and 2009, more than 80,000 were killed in the civil war, including many Sri Lankan Tamils.
The LTTE which started out as a guerrilla force, over time, increasingly came to resemble that of a conventional fighting force with a well-developed military wing that included a navy, an airborne unit, an intelligence wing, and a specialised suicide attack unit. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by 32 countries, including Canada.
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The Philippines has been the unwanted stage for many terrorist groups over the decades, including Islamist ones.
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Today in terrorism: 15 October 1992
In just four hours, the village of Palliyathidal was the scene where some 285 men, women and children were killed by a 1,000 strong LTTE force.