Lanka terrorist group financed by Tamil diaspora: US state Dept

Washington, Apr 28 (UNI) The 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, US State Department Country Report on Terrorism 2005 said in a release today.

It said that the US worked closely with Sri Lanka to provide training for relevant government agencies and the banking sector.

The government cooperated with the US to implement both the Container Security Initiative and the Department of Energy's second line of defence 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 Terroist Organisation (FTO) continued to hold despite numerous violations.

The report pointed out that 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's 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, vest and use of female suicide bombers and water-borne suicide attack against ships, have been copied by other terrorism groups.

There is no indication that LTTE is trying to acquire WMDs.

The report also said that in general the LTTE has not targeted US citizens or assets, limiting attacks to Sri Lankan security forces, political figures, civilians and businesses.

The report listed certain countries as terrorist safe havens.

These included the Afghaninstan-Pakistan border, the tri-border region of South America, the Celebes Sea and Somalia.

The report also listed the following, including the LTTE as FTOs.

These were: Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM), the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba ((LT) and the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, which are active in Jammu and Kashmir.

UNI XC PR GC2145