Word: tamil
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...pictures of Tamil Tiger territory in Sri Lanka...
...Prabhakaran's life as a fugitive began in 1975, with the assassination of Alfred Duraiappah, then mayor of the northern city of Jaffna. A group calling itself the Tamil New Tigers, of which Prabhakaran was a leader, claimed responsibility. The next year, Prabhakaran founded the LTTE. What began as a guerrilla movement escalated into full-scale civil war in July 1983. The LTTE killed 13 Sri Lankan army troops in an ambush in Jaffna. In retaliation, as many as 3,000 Tamils, mainly in Colombo, were killed in several days of violence at the end of July. Human-rights groups...
...women, who would be honored with a private meal in the company of Prabhakaran before being sent out on their missions. Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991 was the apotheosis of this new tactic. Killed by a female suicide bomber on a campaign trip in a small town in Tamil Nadu, Gandhi had been targeted because of his decision to send in Indian peacekeeping troops to Sri Lanka in 1987 while he was Prime Minister. The Tiger leader became a wanted man in India, and the tide of public opinion in India turned decisively against the LTTE. India...
...trappings of a state military complete with a rudimentary air force and navy. Prabhakaran appeared with fanfare to sign an agreement with the Sri Lankan government that year, but during four years of negotiations that followed, neither side could agree to a political compromise on autonomy for Tamil-majority areas. Confrontations between the Tigers and the government increased, and the assassinations resumed. The LTTE itself began to splinter, and one of Prabhakaran's top lieutenants, known as Karuna, broke away. With Karuna's help, the eastern provinces came under control of the government...
...European Union and several other countries as a terrorist organization, and Rajapaksa pursued what he called a "war on terror" against the LTTE despite the repeated concerns of the U.N. and other groups about human-rights violations and civilian casualties inflicted by both sides. More than 220,000 Tamil civilians are still being held in the north in internment camps, and it is not clear when they will be allowed to go home. The U.N. estimates that 40,000 to 60,000 people are en route to the camps from the war zone. Another 2 million Tamils live in Colombo...