Abuses By The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have repeatedly been accused of attacks on civilians during their separatist guerrilla campaign. The US State Department reported several human rights abuses in 2005, but it specifically states that there were no confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the government. The report states that, "they continued to control large sections of the north and east and engaged in politically motivated killings, disappearances, torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, denial of fair public trial, arbitrary interference with privacy, denial of freedom of speech, press, of assembly and association, and the recruitment of child soldiers". The report further accused the LTTE of extrajudicial killings in the North and East. Several members of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) were illegally detained by the LTTE.
The LTTE committed massacres in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. The number of civilians massacred were as high as 144 (Anuradhapura massacre). Some of the major attacks resulting in civilian deaths include the Kebithigollewa massacre, the Gonagala massacre (54 dead), the Dehiwala train bombing (56 dead), the Palliyagodella massacre (109 dead) and the bombing of Sri Lanka's Central Bank (102 dead). Further a claymore antipersonnel mine attack by the LTTE on June 15, 2006 on a bus carrying 140 civilians killed 68 people including 15 children, and injured 60 others.
Tamil Tigers were also credited by FBI for the invention of suicide bra and suicide belt. Most of the targets of suicide attacks were made on civilians rather than the government forces.
in 1996 Bombs ripped Central Bank, cause spreading fires to Ceylinco and other buildings Two powerful bombs that exploded in quick succession at the Central Bank building,Ceylinco House opposite it and a row of adjoining smaller buildings engulfed in thick smoke and flames within minutes. The explosions widely believed to be the work of the LTTE were described by security sources as the most powerful ones set off in terrorist attacks in the city so far. According to eye witness accounts, an LTTE suicide squad had driven an explosives-packed truck into the Central Bank building firing at the security guards as they moved in. The devastating explosions had occurred seconds later causing an inferno. At least fifty people were feared killed directly by the two blasts while the fate of several thousands trapped inside the two burning high rise offices was unknown. The vibration triggered by the explosions damaged many buildings in the city’s commercial centre. Hundreds of their occupants were injured by the flying glass splinters and falling debris.
Read more about this topic: Human Rights In Sri Lanka
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