D B S JEYARAJ-Frontline

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In Toronto on April 27, a 'Tamil Eelam' flag flies high at a demonstration held to protest against the Sri Lankan military attacks on LTTE territory.-MARK BLINCH/REUTERS

Deploying diaspora

IN 1989, this writer attended a conference organised by the pro-Tiger publication Tamil Voice International in London. Among the participants were pol

Sri Lankan newspapers went to town on the E.U. ban on the Tigers in May 2006.-LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP

Global isolation

Pressure from the international community weakens the LTTE, and the government in Colombo decides to seize the opportunity.

The funeral procession of Tamilselvan at an undisclosed place in northern Sri Lanka on November 5.-LTTE/HANDOUT /REUTERS

Direct hit

The death of S.P. Tamilselvan, the ever-smiling political commissar of the LTTE, may lead to a further hardening of Tiger attitudes.

A soldier keeping vigil in the Thoppigala, or Barons Cap, area in early July. The last bastion of the LTTE in eastern Sri Lanka was taken by the Army on July 11.-MINISTRY OF DEFENCE/HANDOUT/ AFP

Eastern cauldron

The government forces take the Eastern province, but will the military status quo remain?

Trouble overseas

From the US to Australia, governments have begun to crack down on LTTE leaders and operatives for violating anti-terrorism laws.

Sri Lankan soldiers search the belongings of bus passengers at an entry point to Colombo on April 28. The massive cordon-and-search operations come in the wake of Military Intelligence reports of large-scale infiltration by the LTTE into government-controlled areas in the Jaffna peninsula.-LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP

Human bombs at work in Jaffna

Now LTTE men, when cornered, blow themselves up by triggering the explosives they wear. The idea is to kill as many of the enemy as possible.

Policemen leave the office of the Tamil Coordination Committee in Paris after a search on April 1.-STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP

French crackdown

The LTTE's operations in Europe receive a severe jolt with the arrest of many of its activists by the French police.

Tamil tigers participate in a shooting competition to mark New Year's day in Wanni, northern Sri Lanka.-REUTERS

Relying on stealth

LTTE adopts a new combat strategy in north-eastern Sri Lanka in which its front organisations stage violent attacks on chosen targets.

Rebel leader `Col'. Karuna on March 19.-V.S.SAMBANDAM

The fall of Karuna

The LTTE snuffs out the eastern rebellion but the political issues raised by the rebel leader Karuna are too serious to rule out any dissension in fut

The Eastern warlord

VINAYAGAMOORTHY MURALEETHARAN alias Karuna Amman a.k.a "Col." Karuna was until his expulsion from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on March

TIGER VS TIGER

In the most serious internal crisis the LTTE has faced so far, the Eastern commander `Col.' Karuna is pitted against the North-dominated `high command

The conflicts within

When the confrontation with Colombo eased with the ceasefire, the contradictions within the LTTE came into play.