Other People's Wars: A Review of Overseas Terrorism in ... - Edocr

Other Peoples’ Wars -- Chapter Two
between the Tamils of India and Sri Lanka. Within a short period of time, the first roving gangs
of criminals turned into an insurgent movement capable of challenging the security forces of Sri
Lanka and eventually controlling territory in Tamil areas.
Even in the early 1980s, unity between Tamil insurgent groups did not exist. In 1983, the
LTTE began targeting the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE,) 36
and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO,) assassinating its newest leader. In
1986, the LTTE began another series of assaults on TELO positions in Jaffna. Almost 100 of
their guerillas were killed by the LTTE, who then issued demands that all insurgents follow them.
In December of 1986, the LTTE turned its attention to the Eelam People’s Revolutionary
Liberation Front (EPRLF) 37 , killing several hundred of their members. Fighting between the
LTTE, the EPRLF, and PLOTE continued over the next several months. The Tigers’ sheer
brutality was successful in devastating their rivals for supremacy. It was not uncommon for
surrendering fighters, who were promised safety if they surrendered to the LTTE, to be
massacred immediately.
Although active since the early 1970s, a bout of anti-Tamil rioting by Sinhalese Sri Lankans
led to the LTTE’s transition from a small terrorist group to a major insurgency. As is common
in terrorism, the rioting was triggered by the insurgents themselves.
On July 23, 1983, LTTE guerillas ambushed troops in the Jaffna area. A remote controlled
mine was detonated, and was followed up by grenades and heavy automatic weapons fire,
killing a total of 15 soldiers. In response, Sri Lankan soldiers stationed in the Jaffna area went
on what can only be called a rampage, destroying property owned by Tamils. Many Tamils
civilians were badly beaten by troops, and several died from the assaults. Rumors about the
LTTE’s ambush quickly spread into Colombo, and Sinhalese mobs went “berserk” on the night
of July 24 in Tamil areas. Many Tamils were beaten or hacked to death, while others who were
accused of being Tigers were burned alive.
This senseless violence continued for several days while police and military personnel did little
to protect Tamil civilians. The violence displaced many Tamils. In Colombo alone, 50,000
were left homeless, while as many as 100,000 were forced to flee their homes all across the
island. 38 Many of these unfortunate Tamils moved into Tamil speaking provinces, away from
the mobs, where the presence of armed Tamil insurgents offered a false sense of security.
For the LTTE, the massacre of Tamil civilians was a victory, and their small-scale armed
attacks began to have the intended devastating political effects of polarizing the Sinhalese and
Tamil communities. This was clearly a textbook example of what the Brazilian Marxist Carlos
Mergella advocated in the Mini-manual of the Urban Guerilla, “the small engine starting the
larger engine”. Previous attacks had provoked similar, although much smaller reactions by the
security forces, which included the 1981 torching of the Jaffna library -- a cultural treasure of
36 A former Tiger who preferred a more Marxist and internationalist approach to insurgency was the creator
of PLOTE. Its founder was also of the land owning caste, and therefore higher in status than Prabhakaran.
37 The EPRLF drew its support mostly from Tamils in the Eastern Province, whereas the Tigers were
dominant in the Jaffna region.
38 Ibid, pp. 24-6.
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