Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was founded in 1976 and is a secessionist terrorist organization that is internationally proscribed.1 The LTTE was involved in a prolonged terrorist insurgency campaign and armed conflict against the Sri Lankan state for approximately 30 years until it was finally defeated by the armed forces of the government in May 2009. In that time it killed many people, destroyed crucial infrastructure and took de facto control over large areas of territory in the North and East of the state and subjected the population within to its unelected hegemony. It blocked the supply of goods and essential supplies to people of the North, by blocking the A-9 highway and forcing all transportation to be by sea convoy.