Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM • 393ers, of whom 36 were injured, including seven Americans. In the pastLTTE had avoided targeting foreigners but apparently changed thispolicy in retaliation for U.S. and other Western support for the SriLankan government. This bombing was followed by a two-hour gunbattle between government troops and 15 to 20 Tamil Tigers, in thecourse of which a Tamil unit threw a grenade into a Buddhist temple,killing Vitharandeniye Chandrajothi, one of Sri Lanka’s Buddhistreligious leaders.During October 1998 government troops had contained Tamilfighters in the Vanni jungles of the north but had to yield the town ofKillinochi on the north-south highway connecting Jaffna to Colomboback to rebel control. On 29 July 1999 a LTTE suicide bomber assassinateda moderate Tamil leader, Neelam Tiruchelvam, a leaderof the Tamil United Liberation Front, whom the LTTE had targetedfor not supporting the separatist cause. During 2000 the LTTE retookseveral positions in the Jaffna peninsula, and by November Prabhakaranwas receiving diplomats from Norway, among other nations,seeking to mediate a truce or cease-fire between the LTTE and SriLankan government.On 19 October 2000, during the inauguration of President Kumaratunga,an LTTE attack shot down a helicopter gunship over Colombo.On 22 April 2000 the LTTE repelled three assaults by governmentforces, who suffered heavy losses and who lost control over the ElephantPass military complex, giving the LTTE control over the Jaffnapeninsula once again. On 22 December 2000 the LTTE agreed to acease-fire that lasted until 24 April 2001. The most dramatic attack of2001 was the 24 July attack on Bandaranaike International Airport, SriLanka’s most important and most heavily guarded air hub, in whichan LTTE unit first attacked the adjacent Katunayake air force base,destroying eight military aircraft, before hitting the civilian airport,destroying two Airbuses and damaging three others.On 22 February 2002 the LTTE and the government of Sri Lankaagreed to the creation of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM),made up of diplomats from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, andSweden, who in turn negotiated a new cease-fire signed by both partiesin the period 4–6 March 2002. By the time the cease-fire tookhold, more than 64,000 people had been killed by the LTTE insurgency.Unfortunately this 2002–2005 cease-fire period was markedby feuding within the Sri Lankan government between President