Terrorism in Sri Lanka
A common definition of terrorism is the systematic or threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government for political, religious, or ideological goals.
[1][2] Sri Lanka is a country that has experienced some of the worst known acts of modern terrorism, such as suicide bombings, massacres of civilians and assassination of political and social leaders.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) are two of the most prominent and most deadly terrorist groups in Sri Lankan history.
The leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna drew worldwide attention to Sri Lanka, when it launched an insurrection against the Bandaranaike government in April 1971.
Although the insurgents were young, poorly armed, and inadequately trained, they succeeded in seizing and holding major areas in Southern and Central provinces before they were defeated by the security forces.
[11] Their attempt to seize power created a major crisis for the government and forced a fundamental reassessment of the nation's security needs.
[21] During the second insurrection DJV gave priority to the killing of civilians, be it political rivals or simple citizens who disobeyed the innumerable orders of JVP.
[29] The total number of victims included those of the DJV, the military wing of JVP and as well as those killed in retaliation by the government's official armed groups and other killer squads.
[33][34][35] A United Nations report found that as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months of the civil war, mostly as a result of indiscriminate shelling by the Sri Lankan military.
[42] During the final phases of the war, the LTTE used Tamil civilians as Human shields to protect fleeing cadres, which accounted for dramatic increase of casualties in the last months of the conflict.
[45][better source needed][46] The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is currently investigating the alleged war crimes.
[49][50][51] The tactics employed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the war and specially, their attacks to civilian targets, use of child soldiers and suicide bombings resulted in them listing as a terrorist organization in 32 countries, including the United States, India, Canada and the member nations of the European Union.
[52][53] The LTTE was proscribed for the first time in Sri Lanka in 1998, after their attack to the temple of the tooth, a highly sacred Buddhist shrine and a UNESCO world heritage site.
In May 2009, Sri Lankan government formally declared an end to the 25-year civil war after the army took control of the entire island and the death of the founding leader of the Tamil Tigers, Velupillai Prabhakaran.
[61][62] The group was also involved in the brutal murder of two police officers Ganesh Dinesh and Niroshan Indika in 2018, which at the time was wrongfully blamed on a former LTTE cadre.
According to independent sources Sri Lanka was subjected to some of the worst terrorist attacks that have occurred worldwide with 100 or more fatalities over the last 100 years.
[79] Other arreste related to the Sri Lanka Easter bombings reported when the STF Police arrested a terrorist belonging to the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), Anzar Mohamed Rinaz, while he was trying to flee the country at the Bandaranaike International Airport Negombo located in Colombo on July 3, reports The Island.
