11.1.2008
The United States' top intelligence agency, Federal Bureau
of Investigations (FBI) says that the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is the most dangerous and deadly
extremist organization in the world. The official website
of FBI in its tops story yesterday said that LTTE is far
more dangerous terrorists outfit than al Queda, Hezbullah
or even HAMAS. Following is the full text of the article
published on the website, www.fbi.gov
TAMING
THE TAMIL TIGERS
From
Here in the U.S.
As
terrorist groups go, it has quite a resume:
*
Perfected the use of suicide bombers;
*
Invented the suicide belt;
*
Pioneered the use of women in suicide attacks;
*
Murdered some 4,000 people in the past two years alone;
and
*
Assassinated two world leaders-the only terrorist organization
to do so.
No,
it's not al Qaeda or Hezbollah or even HAMAS. The group
is called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
or the Tamil Tigers for short.
Needless
to say, the Tamil Tigers are among the most dangerous
and deadly extremists in the world. For more than three
decades, the group has launched a campaign of violence
and bloodshed in Sri Lanka, the island republic off the
southern coast of India.
Its
ultimate goal: to seize control of the country from the
Sinhalese ethnic majority and create an independent Tamil
state. Along the way, it has launched suicide attacks,
assassinated politicians (including a government minister
this week and even the Sri Lankan President), taken hostages,
and committed all of kinds of crimes to finance its operations.
The resulting civil war has taken the lives of nearly
70,000 Sri Lankans on both sides of the conflict since
1983 alone.
Why
should you care? Certainly because of the suffering and
bloodshed that the Tamil Tigers have caused. And because
its ruthless tactics have inspired terrorist networks
worldwide, including al Qaeda in Iraq. But also because
the group has placed operatives right here in our own
backyard, discreetly raising money to fund its bloody
terrorist campaign overseas, including purchases of weapons
and explosives.
The
U.S. government has designated the Tigers a foreign terrorist
organization, so their activities here are illegal. And
we're determined to stop them, using the full range of
our investigative and intelligence capabilities.
In
April, for example, we struck an important blow when our
Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York arrested the alleged
U.S. director of the Tigers. The man supposedly held several
fundraising events at a church and various public schools
in Queens and in northern New Jersey in 2004. He is also
accused of arranging high-level meetings between the group's
leaders and U.S. supporters.
We've
also arrested another 11 Tamil Tiger-related suspects
in the New York City region. And in Baltimore, following
a multi-agency investigation, a pair of Indonesian men
pled guilty and were sentenced recently for working with
others to export surface to air missiles, state-of-the-art
firearms, machine guns, and night vision goggles to the
Tigers in Sri Lanka.
You
can help by being careful with your donations. Like other
terrorists, the Tigers have raised funds under a variety
of cover organizations, often by posing as charities.
A great deal of money, for example, was raised for the
Tigers following the 2004 tsunami that devastated Sri
Lanka and many other countries.
Courtesy
- FBI/Sri Lanka Defence