Although the separatist group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suffered a series of setbacks on the battlefield in 1991, it continued to pose a terrorist threat.

In March 1991, the LTTE returned to urban terrorism with the car-bomb assassination of Deputy Defense Minister Ranjan Wijeratne in Colombo. Scores of innocent bystanders were killed or injured. A second car-bomb attack in June devastated the government's Military Operations Headquarters, again taking many civilian lives. Interrogation of LTTE suspects reportedly revealed that future targets included government figures and major public utilities.

In India, a Madras court indicted the leader of the LTTE and his intelligence chief in connection with the 21 May assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Seventeen others also died in this bombing, which occurred while Gandhi was campaigning. Numerous LTTE suspects tracked by Indian police committed suicide to avoid capture.

The LTTE also continued to assassinate rival Tamil politicians in Sri Lanka and India. In rural areas, the Tigers massacred hundreds of Sinhalese and Muslim villagers to drive them from areas deemed part of a "Tamil Homeland."

Source: United States Department of State, April 1992.