Thursday marked the 20th anniversary of the first-ever suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). It was on this day in 1987 that LTTE’s first ‘Black Tiger’, Miller, rammed a truck laden with explosives into a Sri Lankan Army camp, opening a new chapter in the Island’s ethnic conflict.

In the past 20 years, the LTTE has conducted some 170 suicide operations involving over 273 ‘Black Tigers’. The LTTE, thus, has the distinction of having carried out the highest number of suicide attacks in the world. Significantly, 194 of the Black Tigers who died on suicide missions were ‘Black Sea Tigers’; and 74 were women. The statistics, however, do not include those who perished on civilian missions. Surprisingly, the LTTE did not conduct suicide attacks against the IPKF.

‘Black Tigers’ are not organised as a separate unit, but are part of Military, Sea, Air or Intelligence wings. While the suicide cadres of the first three wings are used against military targets, the ‘Black Tigers’ of the Intelligence wing are utilised to take on high profile off-battlefield targets. Examples of such victims include Rajiv Gandhi, former prime minister of India and Ranasinghe Premadasa, the then president of Sri Lanka. All suicide missions come directly under the supervision of the LTTE chief Prabaharan as evident from his hosting a last meal to a prospective suicide cadre. This is similar to the Palestinian Shahid’s ceremony of ‘the living dead’. ‘Black Tigers’ are considered to be the elite force and the most effective of its kind in the world. This is why there is competition among LTTE cadres to become ‘Black Tigers’. Though many militant groups use suicide terrorism, the LTTE is one of the few to have adopted it as an article of faith. In this regard, the LTTE chief Prabaharan observed: “With perseverance and sacrifice, Tamil Eelam can be achieved in 100 years. But if we conduct Black Tiger operations, we can shorten the suffering of the people and achieve Tamil Eelam in a shorter period of time.” Criminologists call this “criminal displacement” strategy adopted by some militant groups which is “qualitatively different, appearing almost supernatural, extremely lethal, and impossible to stop.” While the Sri Lankan state learned counter-terrorism strategies from Israel, the LTTE copied Palestinian tactics of “criminal displacement” by suicide attacks, targeting highly protected Sri Lankan Army camps and checkpoints. Tigers gradually used this method to ruthlessly attack civilian targets as well.

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