“Despite claims that the terror organisation is defunct, Sri Lankan authorities raided a safe house operated by a prominent LTTE member in Ambalamkulam as recent as the 15th of October this year and recovered a haul of explosives and firearms”
THE THIRD FORCE
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) once described the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as the “most dangerous and deadly extremists” in the world.
In a January 2008 report published by The Economic Times, the United States (US) agency cautioned donors against channelling funds to charities established as front organisations by the rebel group to raise funds to finance its terrorist activities.
Describing the LTTE as having “quite a resume,” the FBI ranked it ahead of Al Qaeda and Hamas. According to the agency advisory, the LTTE has perfected the use of suicide bombers; invented the suicide belt, pioneered the use of women in suicide attacks; murdered some 4,000 people in the past two years alone.
The FBI says that the LTTE’s “ruthless tactics have inspired terrorist networks worldwide, including Al Qaeda in Iraq.” The FBI also said that the LTTE operatives have assassinated two world leaders, “the only terrorist organisation to do so.”
Though no names were mentioned, the report said the LTTE is generally known to be behind the assassinations of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993.
The report also quoted the FBI as saying the Tamil separatist organisation had placed operatives in the United States to discreetly raise money to purchase weapons and explosives and to fund its “terrorist campaign” in Sri Lanka.
“The group has placed operatives right here in our own backyard, discreetly raising money to fund its bloody terrorist campaign overseas, including purchases of weapons and explosives.”
In April 2007, Karunakaran Kandaswamy was arrested in Queens, New York, and charged with organising “material support” for the LTTE.
American authorities maintained that the LTTE has covertly operated within the United States drawing on America’s financial resources and technological advances to further its war of terror in Sri Lanka and elsewhere.
Despite claims that the terror organisation is defunct, Sri Lankan authorities raided a safe house operated by a prominent LTTE member in Ambalamkulam as recent as the 15th of October this year and recovered a haul of explosives and firearms.
Elsewhere, the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) arrested two DAP assemblymen, two other party members with positions in state municipalities and a PKR member in a dragnet that also saw the arrest of seven other individuals with suspected links to the terror group.
In a televised press conference just two days prior to the Sri Lankan arrests, Bukit Aman’s Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division (E8) principal assistant director Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the police traced huge financial transactions involving the arrested who were believed to be acting as operatives on a mission to activate the LTTE group in the country.
