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Indian govt extends ban on LTTE by two years: Report

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, May 15, IRNA -- The Indian government extended the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by another two years following intelligence reports that remnants of the Sri Lankan Tamil terror outfit were trying to regroup.

“Even though the LTTE has been “decimated in Sri Lanka, recent reports reveal that remnant LTTE cadres and leaders are regrouping “, said a notification issued by the Union Home Ministry in New Delhi.

The group-led by V. Prabakaran had been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by several countries including the United States.

The LTTE was involved in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 following which it was banned in India in 1992.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam commonly known as the LTTE or the Tamil Tigers) was a separatist organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976, it waged a violent secessionist campaign that sought to create Tamil Eelam, an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. This campaign evolved into the Sri Lankan Civil War, which was one of the longest running armed conflicts in Asia until the LTTE was defeated by the Sri Lankan Military in May 2009 after a 30 year long military campaign.

The Tigers, at the height of their power possessed a well-developed militia and carried out many high profile attacks including the assassinations of several high-ranking Sri Lankan and Indian politicians like Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993, and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.

The Tigers, although not the first group to use suicide bombings as a weapon, used such attacks as a tactic of asymmetrical warfare, and used light aircraft in some of their attacks.

For over 30 years, the insurgency caused significant hardships for the population, environment and the economy of the country, with over 80,000 people officially listed as killed during its course.

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End News / IRNA / News Code 1116717