Sri Lanka bombings shatter decade of peace, bring back carnage of LTTE days

Easter Sunday bombings bring back the spectre of violence in a country that saw an estimated 100,000 people killed during a conflict with the LTTE

The Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka shattered the island nation's peace just days before it would have marked ten years since the end of a 26-year civil war between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  

Data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal shows that since 2010, no Sri Lankan civilian had been killed in a terrorist incident until Sunday -- when seven suicide bombers, originally reported to be members of the National Thowheed Jamath, perpetrated a series of blasts that ripped through three churches and luxury hotels, killing over 350 people and wounding more than 500 others. The Islamic State on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attacks. With this, they brought back the spectre of violence in a country that saw an estimated 100,000 people killed during the conflict with the LTTE, which was fought to the bitter end.

The political conflict between the island's majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils dates back to the early 1950s, but the civil war, which came to define the struggle between the two groups, is considered to have begun in July of 1983. In 1975, youth members of the Tamil United Front had founded the LTTE. The LTTE would go on to run a violent campaign for a separate Tamil homeland, a "Tamil Eelam", in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years, bringing with it terror tactics such as suicide bombings.   

The war begins

On July 23, 1983, the LTTE killed 13 Sinhalese soldiers, triggering the worst-ever racial riots in Sri Lanka. An estimated 2,000 people lost their lives and Tamils faced arbitrary arrests, with many being detained for long periods without a trial. This was the start of what the Tigers called the "First Eelam War". 

In July 1985, the first attempt at peace talks, which took place in Bhutan, between the LTTE and the government failed. 

During the 1980s, there were at least 12 documented terrorist incidents in Sri Lanka, which claimed an estimated 570 lives. Apart from the LTTE, a few of the attacks were also conducted by the Janatha Vimukti Perumana (JVP). 

At least three of these attacks killed over 100 people each. In 1985, the LTTE invaded Anuradhapura town, in the country's North Central Province, and killed scores of civilians. At the Buddhist shrine of Sri Maha Bodhi, the Tigers killed the monks and civilians who had come for worship there. Around 146 people were killed in the incident. In 1987, in North Central Province's Aluth Oya, 127 Sinhalese men, women and children were killed by the LTTE after they were pulled out of the buses they were travelling in. That same year, the LTTE detonated an explosive at Colombo's central bus terminal, killing 113 people.

There was also the attack on Air Lanka Flight 512 in 1986. The flight, which had arrived at Sri Lanka's Bandaranaike International Airport from London, was targeted using a bomb, killing 21 people.

In 1987, India sent in its troops to enforce the truce it had brokered. The LTTE, however, refused to disarm and began fighting, which would go on for three years. The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) lost 1,200 soldiers during this time. 

India withdrew its troops from the island in 1990, while the LTTE held control of the island's northern city of Jaffna. This would mark the beginning of the "Second Eelam War". 

The bloodiest years

The Tigers struck in India, too. Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991, at Tamil Nadu's Sriperumbudur by an LTTE woman suicide bomber at an election rally. Two years later, Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa was also assassinated in a suicide attack, which the LTTE was blamed for.

In the 1990s, there were at least 14 documented terrorist incidents in the country, which claimed an estimated 1,389 lives. The LTTE was the perpetrator in all these cases. In February 1990, the Premadasa government had commenced the second attempt at peace talks with the Tigers. In June that same year, the LTTE had resumed hostilities. From 1995 to 2001, the conflict would rage across the north and east of the country.

Again, at least three attacks claimed more than a 100 lives each. In June 1990, the LTTE allegedly killed over 600 unarmed Sri Lankan police officers in the country's Eastern Province.

Later that same year, the LTTE killed 147 Muslim men and boys in a mosque in the town of Kattankudy, in the country's Eastern Province. In 1992, the Tigers attacked Muslim civilians and killed 172 people in the North Central Province's Palliyagodella. 

There was also the Colombo Central Bank bombing. In 1996, an explosives-laden truck was crashed into the main gate of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, in Colombo, killing at least 91 people and injuring 1,400 others.

In July 1996, the Tigers also bombed a commuter train near the capital, killing 70 people and injuring 600 others.

In 1994, the third round of peace talks between the LTTE and the government had started, with Chandrika Kumaratunga as Sri Lanka's President. But, the LTTE resumed its militant activities in April 1995 by bombing two Sri Lankan navy boats. The "Third Eelam War" began. It was in 1996 that the Sri Lankan forces would gain control over Jaffna. In July 1996, the Tigers attacked an army camp in Mullaitivu town, killing 1,200 soldiers. 

In December 1999, the then Sri Lankan President Kumaratunga escaped an assassination bid by an LTTE suicide bomber at an election rally at the Colombo Town Hall, but 36 others were killed. Kumaratunga lost one of her eyes during the attempt on her life. 

The bloody end

From 2000 to 2009, there were at least 13 documented terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka, which claimed an estimated 330 lives. Once again, the LTTE was the perpetrator in all these attacks. 

At least one of these attacks claimed more than 100 lives. In 2006, the LTTE carried out a suicide truck bombing, targeting a convoy of military buses at Digampathaha, in the country's North Central Province. The attack killed 103 sailors. 

In July of 2001, the LTTE had also attacked the Sri Lankan Airforce base in Katunayake and the Bandaranaike International Airport. Eight military aircraft and six Airbus passenger aircraft were destroyed or damaged in the attack, and 14 LTTE and seven Sri Lankan forces personnel were killed.

In 2002, a landmark ceasefire was signed between the Tigers and the government with Norwegian mediation. However, in 2003, the LTTE pulled out of the peace talks, while the ceasefire still held. 

In August 2005, Sri Lanka's foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was shot dead by unidentified snipers at his home. The Sri Lankan military blamed the Tigers for Kadirgamar's death. 

There was a spate of bus bombings in these years, including the 2006 bus bombing in Anuradhapura District's Kebithigollewa that claimed 64 lives. 

In April-July 2006, the fighting intensified, with people fearing the start of "Eelam War 4". In October, the new talks being held in Geneva failed. In 2008, the Sri Lankan forces launched a massive offensive against the LTTE after the government annulled the ceasefire. And, in January 2009, Sri Lankan soldiers seized LTTE's de facto capital, Kilinochchi. 

Sri Lankan forces killed LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran and virtually destroyed the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, ending a quarter century of the separatist war in the island nation. On May 18, the Sri Lankan military declared that the entire island was under government control.