Sri Lankan separatists take fight to the air
For the first time Monday, the Tamil Tiger rebel group attacked Sri Lankan forces with their own small 'air force.'
from the March 28, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
Tamil Tigers are on the defensive
The air attack, Mehta says, could be a sign of the Tigers' growing desperation after a series of losses in ground battles in eastern Sri Lanka.
"After the recent losses, they [the Tigers] want to disabuse the common perception that they're down and out," Mehta says.
The LTTE are fighting for a separate ethnic-Tamil state in the island nation's northeastern region. The majority of Sri Lankans are ethnically Sinhalese. Several nations, including the United States and Canada, have classified the Tigers as a terrorist organization.
Despite a 2002 ceasefire, which is still officially in place, the last 15 months have seen Sri Lanka slide steadily back toward full-scale civil war. Now, as many as 127,000 people from the largely ethnic Tamil eastern region of the country are considered internally diplaced people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Tigers have, of late, lost territory in ground fights with the Sri Lankan Army for the first time in several years. In Sept. 2006 and Jan. 2007, the Tigers lost Sampur and Vaharai respectively, two strategically important towns along the island's east coast.
Their new air capabilities, says the IPCS's Dr. Manoharan, may now help the Tigers reverse these losses and may signal more brazen and bloody attacks to come.
"No matter how unsophisticated their aircraft are, the possibility of suicidal attacks similar to 9/11 on a Colombo high-rise building or targets of economic and political significance in the future cannot be underestimated."
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