The Ceylon News

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was one of the many groups that came into existence to fight for Tamil rights in Sri Lanka[EPA]

The conflict between Sri Lanka's government forces and armed Tamil rebels has raged for nearly 60 years. Thousands have died and many more have been made homeless by the fighting.

Here we answer questions about the Tamil rebels, their composition and their stated goals.

When was the LTTE formed?

Since Sri Lanka's independence from Britain in 1948, the Tamil minority has felt increasingly marginalised and politically disenfranchised. In that very year, Solomon Bandaranayake, the country's first prime minister, made Sinhala, which is spoken by the majority of Sri Lankans, the official language.

After 1948, the Tamils also became the targets of numerous riots that swept through the island nation. Believing that these riots were instigated by the Sinhalese authorities, Tamils began calling for an independent state and for an organisation to protect their rights.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was one of the many groups that came into existence to fight for Tamil rights.

Formed in 1975 with its base in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka, the group vowed to form a separate state called Tamil Eelam.

Is the LTTE the only armed Tamil rebel group?

No, initially the LTTE was one of many Tamil armed groups.

Other prominent armed groups included the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOT), the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), the Eelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS) and the Eelam National Democratic Liberation Front (ENDLF).

These armed groups lost ground and became obsolete as the LTTE killed their leaders and absorbed their trained cadres.

What is the organisational structure of the LTTE?

Prabhakaran is the 'supremo' of the LTTE [AFP]

It is very hierarchical.

The LTTE has two wings - the political and the military.

Both of these wings are controlled by a Central Governing Committee (CGM) headed by Vellupiali Prabhakaran who decides all aspects of organisational policy – supposedly in consultation with CGM leaders.

The CGM deliberates both on operational military strategies as well as the administrative governance of LTTE-held territories.

The political wing of the LTTE oversees the civil administration of its territory through departments like the police force, law courts, administrative offices, planning and reconstruction, television and radio broadcasting stations, and so on.

The political wing also has an international secretariat, which runs the global LTTE network and its foreign relations cell.

LTTE military ranks and grades are similar to those of the Sri Lankan army. These include two grades of enlisted ranks, non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers.

The units also follow a similar structural pattern with squads as the smallest and the regiment as the largest military unit.

Area commanders are responsible for tactical military decisions in their areas. At its height, the LTTE had over 10,000 armed combatants. The numbers have since dwindled.

The various wings of the LTTE include:

• An elite guerrilla force known as the Charles Anthony Regiment
• The Black Tigers unit, which is responsible for conducting suicide attacks
• The women's military wing
• The naval wing, known as the Sea Tigers
• Arms procurement network
• Research and development wing
• Secretive Intelligence Group
• Leopard Brigade (also known as Chiruthaigal)
• Military Offences Group

Applications to join the Black Tigers are personally vetted by Prabhakaran.

The applicants then go through a year's training programme designed to prepare them for suicide missions.

Women have always played an important role in the LTTE armed forces and have their own brigades which work in tandem with the regular infantry, artillery and naval units.

Black Tiger women go through the same training as their male colleagues.

The LTTE's most famous suicide mission was against Rajiv Gandhi, a former Indian prime minister.

The Sea Tigers is the largest wing of the LTTE. Their personnel include sea-going units, onshore marine engineers, maintenance personnel, naval communications and intelligence cadres, and, the commando Black Sea Tigers.

The LTTE craft vary from heavily armed gunboats and troop carriers to ocean going supply vessels, all most all designed and built indigenously.

The Sea Tigers are reported to possess radar-evading stealth boats (probably North Korean built) but their attempts to build submarines failed when their base in Thailand was discovered. Some reports claim that they have mini-submarines bought from international arms dealers.

The arms procurement department, which is responsible for sourcing cutting edge military technology, is the LTTE's oldest international wing. Its members do not have military training but they do receive intensive instruction in a number of other areas including document forgery, gunrunning, communication technology, international freight shipping and investing.

When did LTTE start using suicide bombings?

LTTE began using suicide bombings on July 5, 1987 when a truck laden with explosives was rammed into a building housing Sri Lankan soldiers.

How does LTTE function as a government?

Though labelled a terrorist organisation by the US, UK, the EU and many others, the LTTE has operated a civilian government in the north and east of Sri Lanka.

The group believes that operating a civilian government will allow it a seamless transition once an independent state is declared.

Each of the civilian government departments has many employees on its payroll. The Sri Lankan government claims that contrary to LTTE propaganda, the salaries of most of these employees come from the Sri Lankan government treasury and not from the LTTE.

About 20 divisions function at each district level through committees, structured on a functional and departmental basis.

Some of the LTTE civil administration includes departments of economic affairs, finance, foreign affairs, labour and recruitment, planning and development, traffic, criminal complaints, judiciary, education, health, banking and communications.

How does the LTTE fund itself?

The LTTE's financial infrastructure is among the most complex and most secret of any terrorist group.

It has investments in stocks and money markets, real estate, restaurants and a large number of Asian grocery stores throughout the world.

Its shipping operations carry legitimate goods and also engage in the smuggling of drugs, arms, gold, and has also been indicted for human trafficking to UK and parts of Europe.

The bulk of LTTE funds are known to come from illegal means like robbery, extortion, forgery, international arms sales and siphoning of monies from donations provided by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), aid organisations and other benevolent entities.

Does LTTE have any links with other terrorist organisations?

An LTTE suicide bomber killed Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 [EPA]

Although not widely known, the LTTE has close links with almost all the terrorist organisations of the world. In one of its documents released as far back as November 1998, it declared its resolve to work in solidarity with the various national liberation movements, socialist states, and international working class parties.

The LTTE is known to have worked with Palestinian factions in the Middle East from whom they received advanced military training from 1978 to 1980, the Maoist Naxalite movement of India which has sworn to overthrow the Indian government, and the Khalistan movement which was agitating for a separate Sikh state in northwest India.

The LTTE shipping fleet has provided logistics support to Harakat-al Mujahideen, a Pakistani group with al-Qaeda affiliations to transport a consignment of weapons to the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the Philippines.

They also maintain close contact with the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which has been labelled a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US, the UK and the EU.

The LTTE is said to have sent two combat tacticians and explosive experts to the southern Philippines to train members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

On March 10, 2007, Falk Rovik, the chief spokesperson for Norwegians Against Terrorism, stated in Toronto that the LTTE gave hundreds of stolen Norwegian passports to al-Qaeda in exchange for money.

Doese the LTTE have bases outside Sri Lanka?

The LTTE, which opened its first overseas office in London in 1984, has front organisations in India, Botswana, Myanmar, Cambodia, Denmark, Germany, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Qatar, South Africa, Switzerland and Thailand, besides others.

Sources that keep a watch of terrorist activities and organisations claim that the LTTE maintains branches in 54 countries.

Mullaittivu, the last LTTE base, is under government control following the military's offensive [AFP About 250,000 Sri Lankan civilians are trapped and hundreds have been killed in heavy fighting in the country's north, the International Red Cross has said. The aid organisation said on Tuesday that a major humanitarian crisis was unfolding as Sri Lanka's military continues its offensive against the country's Tamil Tiger rebels. "Hundreds of dead and scores of wounded" medical facilities in the Vanni region, the Red Cross said in a statement. "It's high time to take decisive action and stop further bloodshed because time is running out," Jacques de Maio, the group's head of operations for South Asia, said. "People are being caught in the crossfire, hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling and several aid workers have been injured while evacuating the wounded." The Red Cross has urgently appealed to both sides to allow civilians to leave the combat zone. "When the dust settles, we may see countless victims and a terrible humanitarian situation unless civilians are protected and international humanitarian law is respected in all circumstances," de Maio said. Neil Buhne, the UN resident co-ordinator in Sri Lanka, earlier said that reports indicated an estimated 150,000 civilians were still trapped in the jungle battle zone and were in serious danger. 'Zero civilian casualties' Sri Lanka's government insists there have been "zero civilian casualties" in its operation to crush the rebels in their last remaining bastion of Mullaittivu district. But doctors on the ground say this is far from the case. "Three dead bodies of civilians were brought in on Tuesday and 15 more admitted injured due to the heavy shelling," T Satyamurthy, the director of Udaiyaarkaddu hospital, was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying. Most of Mullaittivu district is now under government control following the military's offensive. Tony Birtley, Al Jazeera's correspondent who visited Mullaitivu under the oversight of the army, said the the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are fighting for the creation of an independent Tamil state in northern Sri Lanka, appeared to have fled the town. "There are no civilians, just stray cows and members of the Sri Lankan army division which took this town. "Although the Tamil Tigers seem to be retreating, they seem to be putting up some resistance. "The civilians appear to be retreating with the Tamil Tigers. "The government is saying they are being forced to - that they are being used as human shields - but we don't know that for certain." Government denial In an interview with Birtley, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan defence minister, said that government forces exercised extreme caution during the offensive and only fired on Tamil Tiger rebels. He dismissed the claims of civilian deaths as LTTE propaganda, insisting that no civilians have died in the recent fighting, and that reports to the contrary should not be believed. "We don't use indirect fire unless we are 100 per cent certain that those are LTTE camps or bases ... This is all LTTE propaganda," Rajapaksa said. The official death toll is unknown as medical officials have said they have been ordered by the health ministry in Colombo not to reveal casualty figures. No journalists are allowed into combat zones on their own.

Velupillai Prabhakaran "is with our people", the rebels say

The top leader of the Tamil Tigers has not left Sri Lanka and is still leading the "freedom struggle", the rebels' political leader has said.

B Nadesan told the BBC by telephone that reports Velupillai Prabhakaran had fled were "malicious propaganda". He promised the rebels would fight on.

Fears for civilians are growing - the UN says dozens are dead or injured.

Sri Lanka's army has pushed the rebels from their strongholds. Mullaitivu, their last major base, fell on Sunday.

There is no way of confirming claims from either side in the conflict zone as independent journalists are barred.

'Liberation war'

Speaking exclusively to the BBC Sinhala service, Mr Nadesan rejected claims Mr Prabhakaran had fled.

"It is malicious propaganda - our leader is still with us - our leader is giving leadership to our freedom struggle. He is with our people," he said.

INSURGENCY TIMELINE 1976: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam form in the north-east 1987: India deploys peace-keepers to Tamil areas but they leave in 1990 1993: President Premadasa killed by Tiger bomb 2001: Attack on airport destroys half Sri Lankan Airlines fleet 2002: Government and rebels agree ceasefire 2005: Mahinda Rajapaksa becomes president 2006: Heavy fighting resumes 2009: Army takes main rebel bases of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu Voices from Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora voices

Mr Nadesan also said the Tigers would not lay down arms until the freedom and dignity of their people were guaranteed.

He shrugged off recent military setbacks which have seen the loss of the key bases of Kilinochchi, Elephant Pass and Mullaitivu.

He said: "In a liberation war it is normal for a force to lose territory and regain the same and achieve freedom. In the past we have withdrawn many times and bounced back to achieve big victories."

When asked why the rebels would not lay down their arms and talk to the government, Mr Nadesan said: "We took up arms to safeguard our people. We need a guarantee of living with freedom and dignity and sovereignty... until that, we will not come to that point."

Mr Nadesan also accused the army of shelling civilians in areas the government had designated safe zones.

Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara told the BBC the army had no need to fire at civilian areas.

Brig Nanayakkara said the rebels were firing from the safe zone "but we don't engage them".

'Crisis'

The district director of health for Kilinochchi region, T Satyamurthy, also spoke to the BBC and said that between 1 and 25 January, 145 civilians had died due to the conflict in the region and more than 650 had been admitted to hospitals.

The fall of the last major rebel-held town of Mullaitivu in north-eastern Sri Lanka has further raised questions over the ability of Tamil Tiger rebels to withstand the current Sri Lankan military offensive in the coming weeks.

Since the beginning of January, the rebels have lost their de facto capital, Kilinochchi, Elephant Pass, a land bridge that links the Jaffna peninsula with the mainland and recently the coastal town of Mullaitivu, which acted as one of their key military bases.

Now the rebels or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be confined to smaller towns, villages and in the jungles in the north-eastern region.

After having attained unprecedented success in its fight against the rebels, the Sri Lankan military is unlikely to give them any breathing space.

The military says it has now cornered the rebels on all three sides and the rebel-held area is fast shrinking.

Supply route

The army says the rebels are now holding less than 400 sq km of territory. The Tamil Tigers still control about 30km of coastline.

The Sri Lankan navy has deployed its naval vessels along the north-eastern coast to prevent the rebels from escaping by sea.

The Tamil Tigers are now defending their jungle bases

Mullaitivu was not only the last major rebel-held town in the north-east but also acted a crucial military supply base.

"The LTTE's main supply route, especially military equipment and hardware, were supplied through Mullaitivu," Dharmalingam Siddarthan, a former Tamil militant turned politician, told the BBC.

Sri Lanka's government is confident of victory in the war, which began a quarter of a century ago. Some officials have predicted the army will completely recapture the north from the Tamil Tigers in the coming weeks.

So, why the Sri Lankan forces are winning now?

The political leadership is strongly backing the military, which has nearly doubled its numbers in recent years. The government has also increased the firepower of security forces by buying new arms from Pakistan and China.

In addition to this, the army has changed its tactics and become better able to cope with the kind of warfare waged by the guerrillas. It also started to stretch them thin by opening up a number of fronts in the north.

However, many military analysts believe that the army may need thousands of additional soldiers to hold on to the territory it had recaptured from the rebels in the long-run.

The Tigers have shown resilience in the past and with most of their heavy weapons and cadres intact, they may spring a surprise. Even if the rebels lose control of other smaller towns and villages in the remaining areas, they may revert back to guerrilla warfare.

The rebels insist Velupillai Prabhakaran is still leading their fight

Now, the key question is what has happened to the Tigers' leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Sri Lankan officials think he may have fled the country.

But speaking to the BBC Sinhala service, senior rebel leader B Nadesan said it was nothing but malicious propaganda and their leader was very much within the north-east leading the movement.

He also shrugged off recent military setbacks saying "in the past we have withdrawn many times and bounced back to achieve big victories".

Many Tamils here warn that the capture of territory from the rebels alone will not end the ethnic conflict and that they need a political solution for a lasting peace.

"Everything depends on the government. If it fails to devolve powers to the Tamil-dominated north and east after sometime the same problem will come up again," warns Mr Siddharthan.

But the Sri Lankan government says it is working on a political solution and it requires time to evolve a consensus among political parties in the south.

"The political solution is evolving as we watch in Eastern province. We've had elections and had a chief minister, who's a Tamil and a former child solider being elected to office. This is part of the political process," says Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohonna.

"If anybody were to expect the revelation of a political solution in one morning it is not going to happen like that. It will happen slowly. It will be an evolution rather than a sudden declaration," says Dr Kohonna.

The UN says the human cost in the Sri Lankan conflict is reaching crisis proportions [ A senior UN official in Sri Lanka says "many civilians" have died in the last two days of fighting in and around the port of Mullaitivu in the country's northeast. Neil Buhne, the UN resident co-ordinator in Sri Lanka, said reports indicated an estimated 150,000 civilians were still trapped in the jungle battle zone and were in serious danger. "It's really dangerous now. There are so many people, so many guns and such a high intensity of fighting," Bune told the Associated Press news agency on Tuesday. "There have been many civilians killed over the last two days. It's really a crisis now." The statement follows intense crossfire between advancing government troops fresh from capturing Mullaitivu, the last stronghold of the LTTE, over the weekend. LTTE, or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, say they are committed towards the creation of an independent Tamil state in northern Sri Lanka. Deep concern Buhne's comments were echoed by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, who expressed deep concern over the fate of the trapped civilians. "[Ban] is deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of civilians caught in intensified fighting in the Vanni region of Sri Lanka between the LTTE and the government of Sri Lanka," a statement from his office said. Ban urged the Sri Lankan government to "accord immediate and absolute priority" towards ensuring the safety of civilians and aid workers, and to ensure that those affected are treated in accordance with international humanitarian law. Buhne later told Al Jazeera that although the Sri Lankan government had earlier made "very sincere efforts" to minimise civilian casualties, the tactic no longer applied amid escalating tension in the war zone. "There are just too many soldiers around. You have the [separatists] intermingled with the civilians ... and you have thousands and thousands of well-armed Sri Lankan forces surrounding those civilians," he said. "We think that it's a tinderbox that we hope will not ignite." Rajiva Wijesinha, the secretary-general of the Sri Lankan government secretariat for coordinating the country's peace process, told Al Jazeera that the LTTE should be held responsible for civilian casualties. "For the last three months, the LTTE, have been driving people with them to smaller and smaller areas, and even shooting people who are tying to get out," he said. "And as the LTTE get more desperate, they are losing the lives of these people. The government actually declared a safe area a few days back, but then we had information that the LTTE were moving their ammunitions into this area." Government denial The Sri Lankan defence minister also told Al Jazeera in an interview that government forces exercised extreme caution during the offensive, and only fired on Tamil Tiger rebels. An estimated 230,000 civilians are caught in the crossfire in Sri Lanka's northeast [EPA] Gotabaya Rajapakse dismissed the claims of civilian deaths as LTTE propaganda, insisting that no civilians have died in the recent fighting, and that reports to the contrary should not be believed. "We don't use indirect fire unless we are 100 per cent certain that those are LTTE camps or bases," Rajapakse said during the interview in Colombo. "This is all LTTE propaganda." Gordon Weiss, a UN spokesman in Colombo, said at least 30 civilians were killed on Monday inside an area the Sri Lankan military had declared as a "safety zone", while dozens more were killed or wounded over the weekend.

After the Sri Lankan army took the last key rebel-held town of Mullaitivu on Sunday, people across the island told the BBC about their hopes and fears for the future.

It has not been possible to contact people living in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts.

I don't think this will make the country a safer place Sri Lanka: Tamil diaspora voices

I was extremely happy about the capture of the last rebel base. The entire country has been suffering ever since I was young.

I have heard only of war in this country. This achievement is something none of the previous governments have been able to do. The LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]have always recaptured territory in the past.

The LTTE never stuck by their word. Despite a peace agreement, they continued with suicide attacks. I don't blame the government for not negotiating with them now.

But I don't think this will make the country a safer place. The war will be over and we are happy about that. But most people expect an insurgency like in Iraq.

There is just a bit of jungle left to capture and once that is done the government should opt for a political solution. They should not treat Tamils as they did in the 1980s.

As a Muslim, I am a minority myself but I love my country. I know many Tamils who do not trust the government. That is what they are taught to think.

We must now think of the people of the north and east and the government must look after their needs now.

From the manner in which the Sri Lankan government developed its military strategy over the past few years, it was very clear that they were not interested in coming to any political negotiation.

There was never any hope from my side that President Mahinda Rajapaksa would deliver any political solution to the ethnic conflict because the whole psyche of the Rajapaksa regime is a psycho of being a victor.

If you look at the songs that were written about him during his election campaign - they were calling him the king. If you have a king, you must have a kingdom.

The latest developments can be described as a geographical victory. But this is not the end of the struggle for Tamil nationalism in Sri Lanka.

Nor will this provide a solution to the aspirations of the Tamil people as well as the aspirations of the Sinhala people who want a democratic country, democratic values, media freedom, human rights protected.

The actual struggle for Tamil nationalism will take a different form. Those who are lighting crackers in celebration have been given crackers for free by the civil defence corps. I am yet to find a poor Sinhalese family go into a shop to buy crackers.

This will definitely not bring security to Sri Lanka. This is a short-term military strategy that has gained access to certain territories that the army couldn't go hitherto. That has not given a solution to the ethnic conflict in this country.

We will see another cycle of violence.

We are not feeling any different. Nothing has changed. As usual the government is pressing forward with its military advance.

We feel that the TNA [Tamil Nationalist Alliance] is the most representative Tamil body and they back the rebels broadly.

The government promises a lot of money for rehabilitation - that is just a political stance

We have been asking for a political solution for a long time but no solution has been forthcoming. We don't know how the government will react after it has claimed a full victory.

I don't know if it will help or abuse people. The government needs to give some solution but I don't know if all the Tamil people will accept what is on offer. We want a peaceful end to this, I don't mind about not having a separate state.

I don't think there will be any difference to my personal safety. I don't know if this is a victory.

The government promises a lot of money for rehabilitation. That is just a political stance. So far what they have done is not worthy of applause.

The whole country was ecstatic. But there is a sense of disappointment that the LTTE, in their desperation, are causing harassment and problems to civilians who are in Mullaitivu and surrounding territory.

The government has announced a massive development programme for the area.

I think Sri Lanka will be a safer place now. Everybody wants to know where Prabhakaran [the rebel leader] is. He has said he will commit suicide if apprehended but who knows?

The most important thing is to give proper recognition to Tamils and acknowledge their rights. That can only be done with the support of the opposition party.

When the advance was announced, crackers were going off all over the place. People were so happy. There is a lot of goodwill towards Tamil people here. This is not a war against Tamils. No one is even thinking on those lines.

Everybody is very excited because everyone wants this war to end. Everybody has big hopes that it will finish soon. We are fed up with it. Every day people are killed.

The government has won a string of military victories in recent months

We don't have a problem with Tamil people - there are many Tamil businessmen in this area. It's just with the LTTE leader who wants this war.

I went all over the eastern provinces which used to be under Tiger control right after the elections. People seemed much happier, they can travel, vote.

The government is saying that right after they get the LTTE out they can call elections in the north.

People here are firing crackers, hoisting the Sri Lankan flag on vehicles, on homes. The people celebrating include many Tamils. The local shop-owner is Tamil and he says that whenever the LTTE set off a bomb he was worried about reprisals from Sinhalese people. They have had to close the shop before because people have thrown stones.

As a property agent I know there are people who want to buy property on the east coast. I see the area can boom. Once the war is over, Tamil people can come and invest. I know Indian clients who are looking to open boutique hotels in the north.

Everybody is optimistic.