The most successful guerrilla outfit and a declared terrorist organization has alarmed observers around the world with its small ‘Air Force.’

LTTE’s light aircraft bombed an air force base by Colombo international airport on March 26, 2007, killing three airmen and wounding 16 in the first such air strike by the rebel group.

This emergence of the Tamil Tigers with its own planes has become a threat to South Asian security. Given its own suicide squads and its proven intent and as they unleash its guerilla war now in the air and further threatens to deepen the conflict.

The attacks engineered by this unruly mob has posed a threat to the Sri Lankan military strategy and shaking the already nervous peace on the scenic island country. This attack expedites LTTE for gaining full control of the East without which their claim for Eelam is hollow.

The new capability of LTTE sought to kill two birds with one stone.

1) LTTE wanted to destroy at least some of the SLAF fighter jets that are inflicting havoc on its military locations.

2) This is also a muscle-flexing move to boost the drooping morale of its soldiers and to attract international media attention.

As the Sri Lankan government emphasize on seeking a military solution to the ethnic conflict, India is treading with caution and holding back while reacting to the Tamil Tigers’ air strike and has repeatedly called for a continuation of the stalled peace talks despite grave threat posed by this hyperactive and furious organization to the entire South Asian region.

This is even more worrisome if coupled with its links to al-Qaeda. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) revealed that the Tigers might have ‘possible’ connections with Osama bin Laden’s radical outfit.

A dreadfully innovative terrorist organization that invented the cyanide pills, suicide bombings and is possibly one of the few such outfits to operate a naval unit and now acquiring air capabilities should barely come as a surprise. In tactical terms, LTTE might not have inflicted significant damage against the Sri Lankan Air Force’s base but they have just crossed the line pushing themselves out of the frying pan into the fire.

Image credit