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Tamil Tigers: Suicide Bombing Innovators May 21, 2009 1:00 PM ET Robert Pape, director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism, examines the decades-long war in Sri Lanka with the Tamil Tigers. The group is reported to have invented the suicide vest, and made suicide bombing their trademark. LYNN NEARY, host: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels didn't invent the suicide bomb, but they pioneered it as a tactic in war. For three decades, the rebels fought for an independent homeland with hundreds of suicide attacks, more than al-Qaida or any other group. All told, more than 70,000 people died in the fighting. Then, earlier this week, the Sri Lankan government declared victory over the Tamil rebels, but the tactic they embraced has spread far beyond Sri Lanka. We'll talk with an expert on suicide attacks in a moment. And if you want to talk with him about how the Tamil Tigers used suicide attacks or the legacy of their tactics, our number here in Washington is 800-989-8255. And our email address is talk@npr.org. Robert Pape joins us now. He's professor of political science at the University of Chicago and director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism. And he joins us from Chicago Public Radio. Welcome to the program, professor. Professor ROBERT PAPE (University of Chicago): Good to be here. NEARY: So tell me how the Tamil Tigers came to use suicide attack as a strategy. Prof. PAPE: Well, in the 1980s, the Tamil Tigers were becoming the lead resistance group or independence movement on the island of Sri Lanka. And at this point in time, there was a little bit of, actually, a crossover between the Tamil Tigers and Hezbollah, that famous suicide terrorist group from Lebanon. And in 1983, there were actually several Tamil Tiger cadre, just a couple, who were training in some Hezbollah terrorist camps right at the moment that there was that spectacular suicide truck bombing of the U.S. Marines in Beirut that killed 241 Marines and that led Ronald Reagan, just a few months later, to pull all the U.S. troops out of Beirut. Well, a few years later, the head of the Tamil Tigers, Prabhakaran, decided to try to model an attack just after the Beirut suicide truck assassination. And in July 1987, the very first Tamil Tiger suicide attack occurred when a person by the name of Captain Miller drove a truck into a barracks of Sinhalese army troops who were sleeping, effectively trying to copy that attack. And that then set off the entire wave that came over the - over the next 20-something years. NEARY: Now when you say they copied the attack, was there - and you say there was contact between the Tamil Tigers and Hezbollah. Were there -did they received training from Hezbollah, or was it simply a matter of learning about it via the media and then trying to imitate it? How does it… Prof. PAPE: Yeah. Training is probably a little too much here, because it's really more of the demonstration. And it's - when I say copy, I mean, the tactic of a single driver of a truck, a truck that's laden with explosives, that's attacking a camp, an army camp early in the morning, and is essentially attacking a barracks of sleeping soldiers. So that that - those are the key features of the Beirut - the suicide truck assassination in Beirut in October '83 and exactly the same tactical features of the first Tamil suicide attack. And then after that attack, even though it didn't lead to sort of the same political success, it did lead to a fair bit of martyrdom for Captain Miller. So what Prabhakaran did is he decided to make a tremendous political display in the Tamil homelands of this person who had done the attack named Captain Miller. And a statue was erected. The statue was displayed prominently in Jaffna. That's the key Tamil city in the Jaffna Peninsula in the northern part of Sri Lanka. And that statue and these memorials became a quite important part of the entire, sort of, edifice of martyrdom, so to speak, that became, you know, central to how the Tamil Tigers were trying to wage their war of independence. NEARY: Now, you use the word martyr. Were these bombings tied to any religious beliefs? Prof. PAPE: No. Actually, the Tamil Tigers are a purely secular suicide terrorist group. They're not a group that most of the listeners will have heard too much about because even though they're actually the world leader in suicide terrorism from 1980 to 2003, carrying out more suicide attacks than Hamas or Islamic Jihad, they're not attacking us and they're not attacking our allies. And so, even though they've done really quite tremendously spectacular suicide attacks - for instance, in 1993, it's the Tamil Tigers who assassinated - with the suicide assassination a sitting president, Premadasa, a president of Sri Lanka. That's the only time that a suicide attack has actually assassinated a sitting president. And then just a few years before that, Rajiv Gandhi, when he was running for prime minister in 1991, a Tamil suicide attacker, this time a woman by the name of Dhanu assassinated him. And so, despite the fact there have been these spectacular attacks, they have been occurring not against us or against our allies, and so many folks won't really have been as familiar with them. But they are not religious. They're not Islamic. They're a Hindu group. They're a Marxist group. They're actually anti-religious. They are building the concept of martyrdom around a secular idea of individuals essentially altruistically sacrificing for the good of the local community. NEARY: We are talking with Robert Pape. He's a professor of political science in the University of Chicago. And we're talking to him about the Tamil Tigers' use of suicide attacks and their legacy. If you have any questions for him about that, our number here in Washington is 800-989-8255. The email address is talk@npr.org. So I'm curious, Professor Pape, how were then the suicide bombers recruited? Because, you know, in the case of militant Islam, you know, we hear, you know, promises of greatness in the afterlife, for instance. So that, you know, so you could almost begin to understand that, you know, people with a certain kind of belief would think, well, if I do this then I'm going to be rewarded in the afterlife. But - so what's the recruiting technique if you don't have that kind of even reward to promise? Mr. PAPE: Right. Well, maybe when - we should also have an opportunity to come back and talk about the motives for some of the Hamas suicide attackers as well. But just specifically to answer your question, the critical issue here is that the Tamil Tigers have long been a resistance movement that's been a guerilla resistance movement with thousands and thousands of cadre who have been fighting for the independence of the Tamil regions of the Sri Lankan - the island of Sri Lanka. And the Black Tigers, the suicide attackers for the Tamil Tigers, have been recruited essentially as elite members of the ordinary cadre. That is they're essentially promoted from within the ranks of the ordinary Tamil Tigers. A way to think about it is, they're sort of the same relationship our Rangers, you know, have to the Army. In order to get into the Rangers, our elite - some of our elite special forces, you have to first be in the Army. And then you have to pass some rather rigorous tests, rigorous tests of skill, rigorous tests of emotional stability. And that's what's happening for the Black Tigers. Those that are -volunteer and then are selected to become Black Tigers, for them, it's actually quite an honor. Now, of course, our Rangers aren't doing suicide attacks. But the Black Tigers are specially an elite unit where they're being selected because they're viewed as having both the skill and strength of nerve in order to not just so much kill themselves. That's really not what the point of the attack is, as much as to kill others. And to attack especially difficult targets such as, as I just mentioned, you know, assassinations of high-level political figures that would be probably pretty difficult to achieve any other way. NEARY: Do they ever use children or women as suicide bombers? Prof. PAPE: Suicide women actually are quite prominent in the Black Tigers. They're called the Black Tigresses. Of the 273 that we can count - and that's what I'm in the business of doing, we kind of carefully count suicide attacks and attackers around the world - there had been 273 that we can verify who have actually killed themselves in suicide attacks for the Tamil Tigers. And of those, 46 have been women. And quite a large fraction, about half, have been involved in political assassinations. The youngest of the Tamil Tigers who have been Black Tigers that we can identify has been about 18. Now the Tamil Tigers as group do have cadre who are younger than 18. In fact, there are lots of news reports about how they use children. But I actually don't find much evidence of them truly using, you know, hundreds and hundreds of kids who are 12, 13 years old. But they do, quite often, have folks in their ranks who are 16 and 17 years old, much the way - by the way, say, in World War I or World War II, many Western armies were composed of folks who were 17 who went to war early. NEARY: You mentioned that there were - you've counted 273 of these kinds of attacks by the Tamil Tigers. What - how does that compare to what you know about suicide attacks among other groups? Prof. PAPE: Oh, well, if we were to count - that was 273 attackers. Some of those have been involved in team attacks where they've actually done it as a group. So if you were to count, say, attacks the Tamil Tigers from 1987 to just actually early May of this year, just a few weeks ago - May 13th was their last suicide attack - have done at least 137 confirmed suicide attacks involving 273 suicide attackers. That compares to, say, Hamas at 117 confirmed suicide attacks during their period, the life of their suicide - campaigns by about 147 suicide attackers. NEARY: Robert Pape is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and the director of the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism. And you're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. And we're going to take a call now from Nollynie(ph), I believe it is. NOLLYNIE (Caller): Yes. NEARY: In San Jose, California. Go ahead. NOLLYNIE: Yes. My question is, the war is over but the (unintelligible) abuse of the kids being kidnapped from camps, the stories of abuses. So how is the world going to prevent another round of - another round of outrage, I mean, another round of… NEARY: The civil war? NOLLYNIE: …coming up, another round of disenfranchised youth coming up and turning into suicide bombers once again? Prof. PAPE: I think that's a great question. I think right now there's an awful lot of triumphalism on the part of the victorious side here, saying that the war is over, which seems to give the impression that with Prabhakaran dead, that there is sort of no issue here into the future. But the fact is, Prabhakaran and the Tamil Tigers had tremendous popular support, not so much for Prabhakaran as an individual or even suicide attack, but for the whole issue of Tamil independence because there has just been a tremendous amount of animosity between the Sinhalese who are Buddhists and the Tamils who are Hindus, actually going three decades now. And this has been a sort of a boiling civil war, if you - and this is -what we're seeing is the just latest round in that civil war. And I do believe that there are good reasons to explain what happened just in the last few months. But if we look out into the future, the critical issue here is that there are now nearly 300,000 Tamils who are living in refugee camps. That makes up somewhere between a third and a half of everybody on the Jaffna Peninsula. That's a large fraction of that population. And there have been promises by the Sinhalese government to take care of them, to provide food, to provide water and then to help them into the future. But this is a very expensive proposition. This is very far away and very difficult circumstances. And I think that unfortunately, what's really needed here is a rather massive amount of economic aid, reconstruction aid, and not just by the Sinhalese government, by the international community, and I would say in fairly short order. And it's rather difficult - this has often been the case in some of these campaigns or some of these conflicts involving suicide attack. And it's often been the case that promises have come and they haven't been fulfilled. And so I think that in this particular case, there are good reasons to worry about a resumption of the conflict, not so much tomorrow, but in six months or a year that could be really quite intense specifically because of the rather harsh brutality that's occurred to many, many Tamil civilians in the last few months. NEARY: All right. Thank you so much for your call. We're gonna take a call now from Greg(ph). And he is calling from Syracuse, New York. Hi, Greg. GREG (Caller): Hello. A couple of years ago, the Bush administration tried to characterize suicide bombings as homicide bombings. And there was a very clear sort of disciplined message on their part to get that in the media. It didn't really take hold, and I was wondering what your guest thought about that characterization and if it did take hold elsewhere in the world. Prof. PAPE: Yes. That was an effort to try to politically delegitimate the concept. And the fact of the matter is, the term suicide attack already effectively delegitimates the concept and is not the way the suicide terrorists groups typically refer to themselves. They often refer to themselves with terms that in their languages refer to not suicide by self-sacrifice or martyrdom. And I think that the other point to say is that trying to change the name once something has sort of become named something after 20 years, even the president of our country, it's just very, very difficult to do. And so, I think that the fact is, in the West, we have, since the suicide truck assassination of those Marines in Beirut, called this a suicide attack by suicide terrorists. And I think that that's probably going to be the name that will stay with us. NEARY: All right. Thanks for your call, Greg. And I would guess that sadly, this is not a tactic that is going to go away anytime soon in terms of modern warfare. Prof. PAPE: Well, we track suicide terrorism, the global patterns all around the world. And in 2002, there were 50 suicide attacks around the world. In 2008, over 500 suicide attacks around the world. And I'm afraid that suicide terrorism is mainly not so much driven by religion, independent of circumstance, but it's mainly a response to foreign military occupation. And as we've seen, ground forces in Iraq, increases of ground forces in Afghanistan, and then actually threatening parts of Pakistan, we've seen suicide terrorism in those parts of the world exploding. NEARY: Robert Pape, thank you so much for joining us today. Prof. PAPE: Thanks for having me. NEARY: Robert Pape directs the Chicago Project on Suicide Terrorism. He's also author of "Dying to Win." And he joined us from Chicago Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2009/05/21/104391493/tamil-tigers-suicide-bombing-innovators

Warning: The information here is not written to offend anyone. I humbly state that these are written only to document the history of the Tamil Eelam Tamil's past. This is a translation of a document I created on my own from Tamil to English. The LTTE (Military of de-facto Tamil Eelam) had three military branches, like the conventional military of any UN-recognized country in the world. Along with these three main military branches, they also had an entirely new military branch in this modern world. That is the 'Self-Benefaction Force', the "Black Tigers" (Tamil: Karumpulikal) in their language (Credits to Sachi Sri Kantha). These are the modern-day forces that the Eelam Tamils had. In total, Land Tigers - (T. Tharaippulikal) Sky Tigers - (T. Vaanpulikal) Sea Tigers - (T. Kadarpulikal) Black Tigers - (T. Karumpulikal) They also had a military main division, called Recon Tigers (Vevuppulikal in Tamil) for recon missions. As they acted as a de-facto government rather than a recognized state, the soldiers of this organization were most often called Militants (போராளிகள்/ T. Pooraalikal) rather than soldiers (படைவீரர்கள்/ T. Padaiveerarkal). Number: 2008 December: 14,000 odd (Excluding Civil Force and including the staffs worked on their departments) - Co 2009 May First Week: 10,000 odd (Excluding Civil Force and including the staffs worked on their departments) Total Death toll = ~26,500 (those who died on the battlefield till May 18, 2009... according to the different Tamil sources' calculations) Wounded and Contactless 2009 Jan to May First Week: ~4000 (Excluding Civil Force) Tamil Tigers' members who surrendered to Sinhalese after laying down their arms: 11,644 (according to Sinhala sources) Of this Organization, Old name: New Tamil Tigers {(NTT) Founded in 1972 on the advice of 'Mamanithar' A. Rajaratnam} New Name: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) - (from 5-5-1976) Pulikal/ Veengkaikal (E. Tigers) - They continue to be identified by many with the plural 'Tigers' Nick Names: Iyakkam (E. Movement) - This name was used by the people to refer to the LTTE after the abolition of the alternative movements that acted as mercenaries of IPKF and SLA. Company - A unit of their army was called 'Company', like any other military. Hence, the same unit name is used to refer to Tigers' by Eelam Tamil people. LTTE intelligence also used this name to identify themselves to the people so as not to be understood by the Sinhalese soldiers. Hence, it was widespread among people. Pulippadai (E. Tiger Force) - A name coined to refer to the entire Tamil military in the name of valour. Nicknamed by fear: Piirangki (E. Artillery)- This was used to refer to the Tigers by the Tamil youth after 2008 due to 'forced recruitment'. (I took this nickname from one of the Tigers' produced short films) Pet name: Pediyal (E. Boys)- In the early days of the LTTE movement, they were called Pediyal by the people because they were all young men and that was what used to refer to them to the end. Epithet was given by the world media: Tamil Tigers - One of the words in their movement name and the main name used to identify them is 'Tigers', and because their race was 'Tamils', they were called "Tamil Tigers" jointly. This name usage is very rare in Eelam. Now let's see their military divisions and wings. I have collected and compiled these findings through Tamil Eelam pro-websites and a few books published by LTTE. The main force was known as the 'Standing Force' (T. Nirantharappadai). Standing Force (M & F):- Land Tigers (M & F): Charles Antony Special Regiment (A.k.a. CASR. This was the first conventional regiment. It consisted of fighters from Northern Tamil Eelam.) | Created: 1991.04.10 | Stationed: North Tamil Eelam. Some companies were also stationed in Southern Tamil Eelam. Air Defense Team Heavy Weapons Unit Special Rocket Launcher Unit Charles Antony Recon Team Bala Mortar Team Irakaseelam Music Band Jayanthan Regiment (It consisted of male fighters from Southern Tamil Eelam' Batticalo-Amparai districts.) | Created: 1993.05.0 | Stationed: Batti-Amparai. Some companies were also stationed in North Tamil Eelam. Heavy Weapons Unit General Purpose Machine Gun Team (This is a machine gun Team.. It operated under all Regiments) Visalakan Special Regiment | Created: 1991-1994 | Location: Vagarai division Vinothan Regiment | Created: ~1996 | Stationed: Kudumbamalai division Malathi Regiment | Stationed: North Tamil Eelam | Created: at the end of Rivarisa-1 (சூரிய கதிர் in Tamil/ Sun Ray in English). The Malathi Regiment was earlier operating under the name of the Women's Regiment. Heavy Weapons Unit Special Commando Force Special Rocket Launcher Unit Sapthami Arts Hall Anparasi Regiment | Stationed: Batti-Amparai | Created: at the end of Rivarisa-1 (சூரிய கதிர் in Tamil/ Sun Ray in English). The Malathi Regiment was earlier operating under the name of the Mattu-Ampaarai Women's Regiment. Air Defense Team Heavy Weapons Unit Sothiya Regiment | Created : 14.07.1996 | Stationed: North Tamil Eelam Heavy Weapons Unit Mathana Regiment | Created: 1997 | Stationed: Batti-Ampara Heavy Weapons Unit Thilaka Regiment | Stationed: Trincomalee Ilangko Regiment | Stationed: Trincomalee Vannaalan Motorcycle Regiment | Stationed: Batti-Amparai Poonakari Regiment (2007 - End of 2008) (M & F) Special Commando Force Recon. team Kittu Artillery Regiment (M & F) | Created : 1995 Forward Observers Team Johnson Mortar Regiment (M & F) | Stationed: Batti-Amparai Forward Observers Team Kutti Shirri Mortar Regiment (M & F) | Stationed: North Tamil Eelam Forward Observers Team Pasilan Mortar Unit (the first artillery division to be named in Tamil) Maaruthiyan Regiment | Stationed: Batti-Amparai Tim 1.5 Special Regiment | Stationed: Batti-Amparai This fighting formation is also known as 'Tim 1.5 Own Special Regiment' as they are directly trained and nurtured by its commander who turned traitor in 2004, 'Robert' and the people of Batticaloa call it the 'American Force' due to its special offensive capabilities. 4.1 Regiment (M & F) (For Re-Entrants) 2.3 Regiment 1-9 Regiment Shanthosam Regiment (operated only in the Third Eelam War) Radha Air Protection Regiment | (Until the 2002 Peace Accord, they operated under the name "Radha Anti-Aircraft Team" as an arm of the Imran-Pandyan Regiment. It emerged as a separate regiment in 2002. 18 military divisions functioned under this.) Yesudas Attack Team (Bodyguards of Tiger leader. They were also known as Yesudas Team. There were many other units functioned under this for easy administration) Special Team (Heavy guns operatives) Anti-Air Missile Team Air Surveillance Team Radha Intelligence Team Gauthaman Intelligence Team Internal Photography Ordinance Security Team Imran-Pandian Regiment(Their name was officially announced only during the Kattikadu attack on 1–10–1992. They were also called Zaivar{0} Division. 9 military divisions functioned under this.) : Suuran Armour Team Ambush Teams Shankar Deep Penetration Attack Team - (LTTE's DPU) Military Corps Special Motorcycle Regiment | Strength: <250 Motorcycle Fast Special Team Chempian Recon. Team Ammunition Depot Maintenance & Supply Unit Victor Anti-Armor Regiment (Formed in early 1997/05 - Before operation Jayasikurui. The fighters of this regiment were given the nickname RPG Commandos. The fighters of this regiment were cadres of the "Anti-Tank Team" formed in 04-1992) (M & F) Sniping Unit (M & F) Mayuran Sniping Unit Senpagam Sniping Unit (Users of home-made Senpagam sniper rifle) Ponnammaan Mine Unit (F) – Formed on 28.04.1999 Special Mine Unit Neelan Auxiliary (M) Tamil Eelam National Auxiliary Force (M & F) | From 1991 Vaikasi to 1992 they were known as 'Border Village Security Force'. Rocket Launcher Unit General Purpose Machine Gun Unit Were the combat formations of Land Tigers. Of these, 1-9, 4.1 and 2.3 regiments were formed as required and later disbanded. Along with these, all the women's regiments were united and a body called 'Women Council' was formed. Evolution of Women: "Freedom Birds" in 1984 Then "Women's Organization" Then in 1990 "Women Regiment & Batti-Amparai Women Regiment" At the end of 'Rivarisa-1', they evolved into the "Malathi Regiment" and "Anparasi Regiment" and then further regiments were created as time went by Also, the LTTE created military units within their administrative sectors using the staff of each department. Each of which formed its own staff into a separate attack team and sent them to the fronts in rotation: They are, Political Wing Attack Team Intelligence Wing Attack Team Financial Wing Attack Team Police Wing Attack Team Leopard Force (Commando Force) : It was started in mid-1992 and the first batch passed out in 1994 after completing one and a half years of training. The force was disbanded in 2005 and the female fighters were attached to the Malathi Regiment, Sothiya Regiment and the Medical Wing while the male fighters were attached to the Imran-Pandyan Regiment. In 2006, it was again formed and operationalized under the Imran-Pandyan regiment. Ground Leopard Team (M & F) - (Ground operations) Jungle Leopard team (M & F) - (Jungle operations) Naval Leopard Team (M & F) - (Naval operations) Recon Tigers (M & F): Sometimes Black Tigers are also involved in these missions. They functioned under Military Intel as a separate branch. Mukilan Long Range Special Recon Team (LRRP) Special Mapping Unit (M & F) (Unit for map sampling, Telecommunication code papers production) Sea Tigers of Liberation Tigers: A small squadron called “Kadatpura” (E. Sea Pigeons) was formed for the Indo-Tamil maritime movement. It later evolved into the navy as one of the conventional military branches in 1990 for the defence of and operations in Tamil Eelam waters. That is the Sea Tigers. They were called "Tamil Eelam Navy" from 2005 onwards officially. | Strength: 750 - 1500 Asir Special Attack Team (Formed in or around 1992 and later disbanded) Charles Special Sea Attack Team (M) (Established: 11-11-1993) Mission Team Attack Team Nalaayini Special Sea Attack Team(P) Mission Team Attack Team Paakkiyan Offshore Attack Team (M & F) Vasanthan Regiment (Formed: 1994. Later (~2000) later merged with another regiment) Shankar Regiment Naresh Regiment (1995-2000) Madhavi Regiment David Regiment Ezhilkannan Regiment (2006-2009) Sea Tigers' Ground Attack Regiment Punitha Ground Attack Team (F) (2006-2009) Sukanya Ground Attack Team (F) Chooty Ground Attack Team(M) (After the 1995 Skull Island attack, the "Aruchuna Regiment" was renamed as the Chooty Ground Attack Team.) | Created: 5.7.1995 Special Regiment Ship Division (persons who served in this were called ‘Aazhkadaloodikal’ (Meaning: Offshore Riders). They owned 20–25 ships of which 15 were sunk during the Eelam War) Special Task Unit Underwater Swimming Unit Kangaiyamaran Underwater Swimming Unit (Established: 1994) (M) (Its name was Suloyan but changed to Gangai Amaran in 2008) Angayarkanni Underwater Swimming Unit (Established: 1994- 8th month onwards) (F), Special Patrol Team Naval Recon team Anti-aircraft Team Sea Surveillance Unit (RADAR Monitoring section) Sathish Mechanical Unit OBM Unit IBM unit Diesel Engine Unit Supply Unit Boat Building Unit Mangai Boat Building Unit (F) & David(Shanmugam) Boat Building Unit (M) Fibreglass yard Model yard, Map Section Malaravan Ammunition Unit Tamil Eelam Naval Auxiliary (M):- Tamil Eelam Coast Guard Auxiliary: Maravan Auxiliary Thiruvadi Auxiliary Navarasan Auxiliary Johnson Auxiliary Oscar (Aathiman) Special Auxiliary Team – (This was the Sea Tigers’ offshore assistance team) All Naval attack teams and naval regiments of the Sea Tigers were deployed wherever heavy naval ordnance was required. Sea Tigers had separate administrative sections too, which included, Administrative Secretariat Department of Politics (started in 1991) Intelligence Wing Engineering Wing Medicine Section Marines: They functioned under Sea Tigers. Cheran Amphibious Attack Team Sky Tigers of Liberation Tigers: Initially, Tigers built their own airplanes in the late 1980s which were unsuccessful. Later this nascent military branch was formed around 1995 and they made their first official flight on 1998 Nov 27. There are historical records that they flew before this event. They were called "Tamil Eelam Air Force" from 2007 onwards officially. Aircraft Attack Team Pilots team Department of Aeronautical Technology Aerodrome Security Unit Air Surveillance Unit Special Attack Team Black Tigers (Special Force & Self-Benefaction Force) : The Black Tigers were commonly known as Thadaineekkikal (Meaning 'Block Removers'). Tamil People living in SLM-controlled areas referred to them as Karuppukal (Meaning The Blacks). They were divided further into four main divisions. They are, Undercover Black Tigers (Operated under the Intelligence Department) Ground Black Tigers {Also known as 'Theesaththin Puyalkal' (Meaning "Storms of the Nation"). Also commonly designated as 'Black Tigers'; operated under the Imran-Pandian Regiment} Sky Black Tigers (Operated under the Sky Tigers only one time) Sea Black Tigers (They were also called Uyiraayutham (Meaning "Life Arms"); operated under Sea Tigers) Above-water Attack Black Tigers (Also known as 'Idiyars' (Meaning "Strikers") and commonly referred to as Sea Black Tigers) Chevvanam Sea Black Tigers Team (F) Pugazharasan Sea Balck Tigers Team (M) Underwater Swimming Black Tigers Kangaiyamaran Underwater Swimming Unit (It was originally named "Sulojan Underwater Swimming Unit" and changed to its present name in 2008. Established: 1994) (M) Angayarkanni Underwater Swimming Unit (Established: 1994- 8th month onwards) (F) Intelligence Wing (a.k.a. “Fifth Force” in Tamil literature):- → Intelligence wing name before 1990: Tiger Organization Security Intelligence Service - TOSIS Intelligence Attack Team International Intelligence Team National Intelligence Unit Information Collection Unit Research and Publication Unit Training and Technology Unit Administration and Reporting Unit Special Operations Unit Military Intelligence Unit Army Intelligence Unit Naval Intelligence Unit Air Force Intelligence Unit Administration and Reporting Unit Internal Intelligence Unit External Intelligence Unit Administrative Intelligence Unit Financial Intelligence Unit Department of Psychology Secret Mission Teams Ellaalan Force - Sri Lanka (until the end of the Eelam War) Sangkiliyan Force - Jaffna (1996 - 2001) Fury Force - Batti-Amparai (2008) Upsurging People Force - Jaffna & Batti-Amparai (2005 - 2007) Kulakkoottan Force - Trincomale (2001) Pandaravanniyan Force - Vavuniya & Mannar (2000 & 2001) New Vanniyan Force - Vavuniya (During the 200s peace time) Capital Heroes - Colombo (Specially trained assassins to assassinate SL ministers/ early 1990s) National Land Reclamation Force - Batti 2006 Intrusion Prevention Unit Intelligence Training Center Board of Education Tamil Eelam Transporation Monitoring Unit Visa Section Apart from the Standing Force, the civilians were also given various training such as military training and first aid training. All the trainees stood up as "Civil Force". Civil Force:- Border Force (M & F) - They were also called 'Border Tigers' Special Border Force (M & F) Rural Volunteer Force General Purpose Machine Gun Team Rocket Launcher Team Teachers Volunteer Regiment War Help Forces (M) Village level Force (M & F) - People also call it the 'Eezhap Padai' Village Level Specially Trained Regiment Internal Security Force (M & F) Nismiya Internal Women Protection Team Tamilpandi Internal Security Team Anpu Team Sangkar Team Students Force Tamil Eelam National Military The above Civil Force structure was governed by the 'Tamil Eelam National Resurgence Council'. The following were created for the provision and streamlining of these military divisions. Secretariat Kandaruban Arivuchcholai (Unsupported boy children) Chencholai (Unsupported girl children) Private Secretariat to the National Leader Executive Secretariat Manalan Secretariat Security Team Fighters Contact section Public Relations Office Explosive Storage Distribution of Explosives Armory Arms Maintenance Arms Supply Special Report section Report section Personnel Report section Arms Report section National Infrastructure Security Division Report Section Personnel Report Section Weapons Report Section Nalan Radio Telecommunication unit Contradiction Research Institute Monitoring Unit (Unit responsible for eavesdropping on information about military movements, air raids, etc. of an enemy) Ordnance Workhouse Weapons Research & Development Unit Malaravan Ammunition Unit Battle Research Centre Information Center Frontline Research Unit Field Investigation Section Supply Unit Department of Military Technology Battle Bookmaking Unit ( All the books produced by them have been destroyed. They also created a Tamil Military Glossary called MOD) Vehicle Section Landmine Manufacturing Factory Hand grenade manufacturing factory Anti-Personnel Mine Manufacturing Factory Projectile Manufacturing Factory Sea Tigers Boat Design Factory Multiple Drill grounds Suji Computer Division (Batti-Ampa) Raju Military Science Technology Research Institute (a.k.a. Computer Division) Hardware Technology Unit Software Technology Unit Software Regiment - Motto: "Let's Try Together, Let's Win" Military College of Technology Software Building Section Technology Colleges Purchase Section Special Attack Team Planning Secretariat Sea Tigers Apart from these, they have also opened various colleges to impart military-related training to their military personnel. They are, Tamil Eelam Military School Military Preparatory Training College Rayan Academy (For Special Forces) Pulendran Special Forces Training College Annakkili Training College (Operated for certain years only) Special Training College Thileepan College of Politics War Training Teachers College G-10 War Training College Balendra Officers Training College | Location: Batti. Paseelan Officers Training College Appaiya Explosives Training College Rajan Military Training College Johny Officers Training College Sinhala Language and Culture Study Centre (For Intelligence cadres & Black Tigers) Women Basic Training College Women Military Training College Roy Officers Training College Naval Academy of the Sea Tigers Niroyan Basic Naval Training College Asir Naval Training College (in 1992) Naresh Technology College Peththaa Officers Training College Ship College (For ocean-going sailors engaged in operations in international waters) Sea Tigers Political Training School Translation Department 'Liberation Tigers Medical Unit' was created for the medical facility of the Tamil combatants. I don't know exactly about its structure. I have elaborated the information as much as possible. It is noteworthy that there were separate medical units for each fighting formation. LTTE Medical Unit: Tamil Eelam Medical College Tamil Eelam Nursing Training College Field Medical College Medicine Depot Field Medical Unit (Model Medical Posts) --> Sub-Medical Posts --> Principal Medical Posts --> Base Hospitals --> Regimental Hospitals Base Hospital (Military Hospitals) Abhayan Memorial Hospital Chinthanaichchelvan Memorial Hospital Esther Hospital Yaazhvel Hospital Lakshman Hospital (Batti.) Keerthika Hospital Thivakar Memorial Hospital Mullai Hospital (both eventually merged to form Tamil Eelam's last military hospital, headed by medical veteran Dr. Alan) Neythal Hospital (both eventually merged to form Tamil Eelam's last military hospital, headed by medical veteran Dr. Alan) and many other units. ----------------------------------------------- These Tamil Sources were used to only take the names of the combat formations. தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் யார்…? - இ.இ. கவிமகன் EelamView பழ நெடுமாறன் அவர்களால் எழுதப்பட்ட ஓர் புத்தகம் (பசீலன் மோட்டர் பிரிவுப் பெயர் இங்கிருந்து கொள்ளப்பட்டது) நிர்வாக முடக்கலுக்கு மண்மீட்கும் படை அழைப்பு. ஈழநாதம்(29.4.2003) எரிமலை-1992 களத்தில் - 27.6.1995 https://tamilnation.org/tamileelam/armedstruggle/warfront/061022soosai.htm விடுதலைப்புலிகள் மார்கழி-தை 2001 லெப். தமிழ்பாண்டி உள்ளக பாதுகாப்பு அணி பயிற்சிகளை நிறைவு செய்துள்ளது https://eelamaravar.wordpress.com/2019/05/15/brigadier-sornam-4/ https://eelamheros.wordpress.com/2019/05/15/ltte-medical-team-kanavi/ https://www.eelamview.com/2016/04/18/ex-ltte-medical-unit/ https://yarl.com/forum3/topic/277039-பன்முகத்-திறன்கள்-கொண்ட-லெப்-சாள்ஸ்-அன்ரனி-சிறப்புப்-படையணி-தாக்குதல்-தளபதி-லெப்-கேணல்-நாகதேவன்/ விடுதலைப்புலிகள் - ஐப்பசி-கார்த்திகை 1998 http://eelamalar.com/கடலிலே-காவியம்-படைப்போம-4/ https://www.ilakku.org/இறுதிவரை-உறுதியுடன்-பணி/ உதயன்: 09/6/1996 Combined & Released Nanni Chozhanlitary of Tamil Eelam ltte military wing liberation tigers of Tamil Eelam military wing liberation tigers military