by Pam Uher

Created on: April 09, 2009

The Tamil Tigers are not a species of endangered cats; instead they are a notorious band of violent terrorists (acknowledged as such by over 30 countries in the world) that are based in northern Sri Lanka. They originally founded their organization in 1976, as a secessionist movement that seeks to create an independent Tamil state in the north of Sri Lanka [PBS Frontline, 2002]. Today they are commonly referred to as the LTTE or "Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam".

The LTTE are a very well organized militant group known for extremely violent attacks on civilians as well as carrying out assassinations of Sri Lankan and Indian officials. This group is also associated with the recruiting of young children as soldiers and is given credit for being the first to use the "suicide belt" bomb. They are also known to use women frequently as suicide bombers in their terrorist attacks. It has been reported by the media (PBS among others) that LTTE has delivered actual more suicide bombings than many other terrorist groups like Hamas and al-Qaeda.

What does this militant terrorist group have to do with piracy? The structure of this organization has 3 divisions: military, political and monetary. It is a branch of the military division called the "SEA TIGERS", which was started in 1984, that has a piracy connection. This naval branch of the LTTE is said to have over 2,000 troops and is a force to be reckoned with on the high seas near and around Sri Lanka. The Woodrow Wilson School of Politics and International Studies has reported that this elite terrorist naval unit has "destroyed 35- 50 percent of the Sri Lankan Navy. But they also are reported to be engaged in piracy on the open international seas; hijacking various ships or diverse origin since 1995 to the present day.

They especially like to target freighters carrying goods they can make high profit selling on the world "black market". Once they take over these vessels, cargo and crew disappear, often without a trace. Chinese, Malaysian, Jordanian and Indian ships have been the target of the Tamil Sea Tigers during the past 20 years. The LTTE Sea Tigers fear no nation on the high seas, it seems and they have made a grave impact upon trade routes with their acts of piracy.

Once a ship is hijacked this vicious group of terrorists kill the crew, take the goods and sometimes sink the vessel or make it a so called "phantom vessel", incorporating it into their fleet. In the 1990's nations tried to negotiate with the LTTE pirates,

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