Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

anged from suicide bombings to targeted shootings of ethnic Hazaras. In April, LJ members
committed a series of shootings that killed 27 ethnic Hazaras over a two-week period. In June, a
suicide bombing on a bus of pilgrims travelling from Iran to Pakistan left 14 dead, and 30
wounded. In September, LJ claimed responsibility for killing seven Shia in Hazarganji, and LJ
members were arrested by Pakistani authorities when two explosions in Karachi killed seven,
including two children, and wounded another 22. In October, the chief of the LJ Karachi branch,
Mehmood Babar, was arrested by Pakistani authorities. Pakistani authorities claimed the arrest of
the cell leader and his co-conspirators disrupted operational planning of VBIED attacks on a
school and prison.
Strength: Assessed in the low hundreds.
Location/Area of Operation: LJ is active primarily in Punjab, the Federally Administered
Tribal Areas, Karachi, and Baluchistan.
Funding and External Aid: Funding comes from wealthy donors in Pakistan, as well as the
Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia. The group engages in criminal activity to fund its
activities, including extortion and protection money.
aka Ellalan Force; Tamil Tigers
LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM
Description: Founded in 1976 and designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8,
1997, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) became a powerful Tamil secessionist group
in Sri Lanka. Despite its military defeat at the hands of the Sri Lankan government in 2009, the
LTTE’s international network of sympathizers and financial support persists.
Activities: Though the LTTE has been largely inactive since its military defeat in Sri Lanka in
2009, in the past the LTTE was responsible for an integrated battlefield insurgent strategy that
targeted key installations and senior Sri Lankan political and military leaders. It conducted a
sustained campaign targeting rival Tamil groups, and assassinated Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
of India in 1991 and President Ranasinghe Premadasa of Sri Lanka in 1993. Though most
notorious for its cadre of suicide bombers, the Black Tigers, LTT also had an amphibious force,
the Sea Tigers, and a nascent air wing, the Air Tigers. Fighting between the LTTE and the Sri
Lanka government escalated in 2006 and continued through 2008.
In early 2009, Sri Lankan forces recaptured the LTTE’s key strongholds, including their capital
of Kilinochchi. In May 2009, government forces defeated the last LTTE fighting forces, killed
LTTE leader Prahbakaran and other members of the LTTE leadership and military command,
and declared military victory over LTTE. There have been no known attacks in Sri Lanka that
could verifiably be attributed to the LTTE since the end of the war. LTTE’s financial network of
support continued to operate throughout 2012, and there were multiple reports of increased
LTTE involvement in human smuggling out of refugee camps.
Strength: Exact strength is unknown.
Location/Area of Operation: Sri Lanka and India
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