In spite of losing the war on the ground in Sri Lanka, the LTTE’s international network of financial support was suspected of surviving largely intact, according to the US State Department’s 'Country Reports on Terrorism for the year 2009' released yesterday (05 August).

"However, the international network likely suffered a serious blow by the August arrest in Southeast Asia and rendition to Sri Lanka of Selvarajah Patmanathan (aka KP), the LTTE’s principle financier and arms supplier. This network continued to collect contributions from the Tamil Diaspora in North America, Europe, and Australia, where there were reports that some of these contributions were coerced by locally-based LTTE sympathizers. The LTTE also used Tamil charitable organizations as fronts for fundraising," stated the report.

The Sri Lankan government effectively dismantled much of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), after cornering remaining LTTE fighters and several hundred thousand civilians in the northeast of the island, the US report said.

Earlier in 2009, the LTTE carried out a number of attacks, including suicide bombings and an air raid on Colombo, but no further attacks occurred following the end of the war, the report stated.

The report also added that military and Sri Lankan Police Service personnel discovered large caches of weapons, ammunition, and military grade explosives that had been abandoned and left uncontrolled throughout the country. These items have been uncovered by government military forces, usually in the northern region most recently under LTTE control. The Sri Lankan Army remained deployed across the country once the war was over. Special Task Force (STF) police were deployed in the east, north, and in strategic locations in the west.

The report also refers to some of the attacks carried out by the LTTE in 2009:

• On January 2, a suicide bomber killed two people and injured 32 in an attack at the Air Force Admin Base less than two miles from the US Embassy in Colombo.

• On February 9, a female suicide bomber killed 30 people and injured 64 in an attack at a Mullaithivu IDP Rescue Center.

• On March 10, a suicide bomber killed 14 and injured 46 people after he blew himself up in a mosque in Matara during a religious procession.

• On April 20, a suicide bomber killed 17 people who were among thousands of Tamils fleeing the LTTE and who were seeking refuge with Sri Lankan military forces in Mullaithivu.