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TAMIL TIGER LEADER SAYS OSAMA BIN LADEN LED AL QAEDA HAD COPIED TERRORIST TACTICS FROM LIBERATION TIGERS OF TAMIL EELAM By Walter Jayawardhana reporting from Los Angeles Soosai, the Commander of the Sea Tigers, the marine armed wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam told BBC’s Frances Harrison that the terrorist group led by Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda had copied terrorist tactics from them. In an exclusive interview with the BBC’s Francis Harrison Soosai said, he believed that the other terrorist groups should learn from the Tamil Tigers and the Al Qaeda of the September 11 notoriety had already copied them. The interview by Harrison with Soosai recorded during the LTTE celebrations of Heroes’ Day last month and broadcast over the BBC Television could now be seen in the BBC Website’s South Asia section, under the heading, “Tamil Tigers Reveal Suicide Secrets” as a video clip. The news feature introduced the Black Tigers as “the Original Suicide Bombers of the World.” USS Cole was attacked in Yemen using LTTE tactics says, Sea Tiger leader Soosai A proud LTTE leader, now openly supported by a US ally Norway, told BBC, “They are using our tactics. I think in Yemen they used our strategy of suicide attack to blow up an American ship. That is exactly what we used to do.” Soosai was referring to the October 2000 attack by Al Qaeda on the destroyer USS Cole that killed 17 US soldiers. In the news program that featured masked suicide bombers in black uniforms Frances Harrison reported that “The Tamil Tigers have sent more young men and women to their deaths than any other group in the world”(as suicide bombers). “They are arguably, the most disciplined force and the most ruthless,” she said. Some suicide bombers, known as Black Tigers who were shown for the first time to the public on the last “Heroes Day” of the LTTE interviewed in the program said they were ever ready to go back to fighting. Confirming that terrorism paid, Frances Harrison reported that the suicide bombers believed that their actions were justified because those very actions brought them to the negotiating table. Though the United States and the United Kingdom refused to negotiate with Al Qaeda both countries openly encouraged Sri Lanka to negotiate with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a terrorist group proscribed both in the US and UK. The BBC report said the methods of the LTTE involved striking Presidents and Prime Ministers and scores of politicians. The report also added, “The suicide attacks of the Tamil Tigers have killed hundreds of civilians.” The report also said, “Banned as terrorists the Tigers are now desperate for international recognition.” Indicating the prevailing cease-fire could be temporary, the BBC report concluded, by drawing attention to the covered faces of the suicide bombers, “It’s not until they showed their faces the war will be truly over.” (EOM) (02/12/12 go2lanka.com)

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