Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

LTTE's Suicide Bombers

Sabil Francis, Jawarhalal Nehru University
Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Article 321, 4 February 2000

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It is an irony that those on death row for the Rajiv Gandhi assassination had a peripheral role in the act. It was carried out by the Black Tigers, the suicide squads of the LTTE, a shadowy group within the terrorist organisation. Other organisations, like Hamas, which is fighting Israel, have indulged in suicide bombings; but the LTTE has made suicide bombing an article of faith, with the Black Tigers (Karim Puligal) the most honoured members of the organisation, entitled to one last meal with Pirabaharan himself before setting out on their missions. 

On May 21, 1991, the LTTE adopted suicide bombing to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi, at an election rally in Sriperumbudur near Madras. Since then suicide bombers have killed Sri Lankan president Ranasinghe Premadasa (May 1, 1993) and Presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake (October 23, 1995). This tactic has also been used to attack army convoys and to overrun army bases. For example, in the assault on the Jaffna Fort in the early 90s, the LTTE used 14-year-old cadre wrapped in explosives to defeat a 200-strong garrison and capture the fort. The LTTE also used this tactic to indiscriminately truck bomb of the Central Bank on President's street in Jaffna in January 1996. Over a 100 innocent civilians were killed and more than 1,000 injured. 

Though the LTTE was founded in 1974, suicide bombing was only accepted as a tactic in the late 1980s. The first instance of a suicide bombing was on July 5, 1987, when Captain Miller of the LTTE Black Tigers drove a van full of explosives into a military camp at Nelliaddy. More than 128 soldiers were killed. 

What are the motivations of the Black Tigers, who regularly indulge in "Dry Runs" that could terrify normal person? None of the classical theorists on guerrilla warfare like Mao, Lenin, or Che have advocated suicide bombing. The only comparable instance are Islamic militants in the Middle East. Their ideology believes that they will go straight to heaven. The LTTE is officially atheist and the cadre, being Hindus, believe in reincarnation of the soul. The LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham made a speech in Jaffna in November 1995, claiming that "karma" was the reason for the untimely and unnatural deaths of Sinhala leaders who had "tormented the Tamils." 

In the LTTE's case, the motivation for suicide attacks seems to be a kind of en masse cult hysteria that the LTTE consciously cultivates by rituals like Martyr's Week promoting, a cult of martyrdom, building of special cemeteries, naming of weapons after Black Tigers and, in short, the promise of honour after death. In fact, the "dry runs", of the Black Tigers, recorded on videotape are enough to terrify the most courageous. Clearly, something more than courage is involved and the promise of honour beyond death is attractive to those who have nothing to gain in this life. This becomes significant as most of the LTTE cadre now, come from lower middle class backgrounds and easily accept such propaganda. 

Another powerful motivation for the LTTE's suicide cadre is that the LTTE connects its ideology with a judicious use of symbols rooted in Tamil myth such as the tiger, the symbol of one of the most favourite Tamil gods, Murugan. It was the emblem of the ancient Chola emperors, the concept of maram (wrath), the concept of the brave mother (vira tayar) and the vira pen (brave woman) who sacrifice their loved ones for the war. This is a recurring theme in Purananuru poetry of the Sangam period between 500 B.C. and 200 A.D. The LTTE cadre is expected to conform to the ideals of the past. A failure is not that of an individual, letting down the organisation, it is failure to live up to the ideals of a glorious past. 

The motivation of the LTTE Black Tiger cadre is similar to that of the Kamikaze pilots of the Japanese air force in the Second World War. They would crash their explosive laden planes against American warships crying "I die for the Emperor." They were deluded into believing that they were carrying on the ancient Samurai tradition, that they were living up to ancient warrior ideals, that they were fulfilling a sacrifice demanded by the Emperor, and would face tremendous shame and humiliation if they surrendered. The same is true for the LTTE. 

Suicide bombers made, not born: Study

REUTERS[ FRIDAY, MARCH 07, 2003 03:30:43 AM ]

WASHINGTON: Suicide bombers were not born to kill and die for their causes, but were instead manipulated by trainers who knew how to trigger basic drives and emotions, a US anthropologist said on Thursday.

He said that the US was "barking up the wrong tree" with its war on terrorism and in making threats against Iraq, and would in the end only make things worse.

Scott Atran of CNRS-Institut Jean Nicod in Paris, France and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor said groups such as al-Qaeda use sophisticated techniques to create suicide bombers such as the 19 men who killed nearly 3,000 people in the September 11, 2001, attacks against New York and Washington.

Writing in the journal Science, he said that suicide bombers were not "crazed," but had been indoctrinated. "I think these groups are able to manipulate innate emotions... in much the way the fast food and porn industry manipulate innate desires," Atran said in a telephone interview. "(This manipulation) creates a sincere commitment equal to the one a mother feels when she sacrifices herself for her child." Atran, who has lived in Jerusalem and who did his own research as well as reviewed the work of others, noted that many suicide bombers were relatively affluent and well-educated, and so could not be seen to be acting out of desperation. Instead, they were manipulated by leaders who knew how to tap into instincts on par with the need to eat and reproduce. "They do so very effectively," Atran said. "My feeling is that people have been barking up the wrong tree completely in dealing with this. They are often thinking these people are crazed, which they are not. They have no suicidal tendencies, no split families," he added. "There is no evidence whatsoever of poverty. On the contrary, they are usually better off than the surrounding population. (President George W) Bush has been saying the way to fight terrorism is by raising education and fighting illiteracy but he is just whistling in the wind."

It is also impossible to "sell" American values to these groups, Atran maintained. He called "harebrained" an idea to create a "Radio Free Arabia" akin to the highly successful "Radio Free Europe" of the Cold War. "If people are already convinced of an ideological position that is antagonistic to your own, then bombarding them with information relating to your own only increases their antagonism," he said. Eastern Europe during the 1960s was very different from modern-day Islamic countries, he said. Atran believed that a better approach would be to sideline the extremists. "I think the US and its allies should try to empower moderates from within the community," he said. Helping achieve an equitable solution between Israel and the Palestinians would also help, he said.

Atran, who addresses these issues in a recent book entitled In Gods We Trust: The Evolutionary Landscape of Religion, said attacking Iraq would only worsen ill-feelings against the US. "We know from polls in Israel and Lebanon that when force is used to go after what people consider to be Arab terrorists, and usually miss the mark, that increases support (for those groups)," he said.