U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2005 - Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan Government cooperated with U.S. efforts to track terrorist financing, although no assets were identified in Sri Lanka. The United States worked with Sri Lanka to provide training for relevant government agencies and the banking sector. The government cooperated with the United States to implement both the Container Security Initiative and the Department of Energy's second line of defense Megaports program at the port of Colombo.

The 2002 cease-fire between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), continued to hold despite numerous violations. The Sri Lankan Army remained deployed across the country to fight the insurgency. The paramilitary Special Task Force (STF) police were deployed in the east and at strategic locations in the west.

The LTTE conducted a campaign of targeted assassinations against political opponents in 2005. This included the August 12 assassination of Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar outside his Colombo residence by a suspected LTTE sniper team. The Karuna faction, a dissident faction of the LTTE, conducted its own assassination campaign against the LTTE and pro-LTTE civilians in the east. Members of the Karuna faction and suspected Sri Lankan Army informants killed at least 48 individuals in 2005, and approximately 49 members of the Sri Lankan security forces. Including civilian casualties, nearly 200 deaths were attributed to cease-fire violations.

Following the assassination of Foreign Minister Kadirgamar, the government enacted emergency regulations giving arrest power to members of the armed forces, who are required to turn suspects over to the police within 24 hours. Individuals arrested under the emergency regulations may be detained for up to one year. Under these regulations, 148 persons, most of whom already had been released.

The designated FTO Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) finances itself by contributions from the Tamil diaspora around the world, including North America, Europe, and Australia, and by imposing local "taxes" on businesses operating in the areas of Sri Lanka under its control. LTTE military training is self-taught; weapons are either purchased on the international black market or captured from the Sri Lankan Army. Many LTTE innovations, such as explosive belts, vests, and bras, the use of female suicide bombers, and waterborne suicide attacks against ships, have been copied by other terrorist groups. There is no indication that the LTTE is trying to acquire WMDs.

In general, the LTTE has not targeted U.S. citizens or assets, limiting attacks to Sri Lankan security forces, political figures, civilians, and businesses. However, in November suspected LTTE militants threw a grenade at a truck donated by the United States to a humanitarian demining program. At the time, the truck was occupied by Sri Lankan soldiers, one of whom was killed in the attack.