Black Tigers

Black Tigers
கரும்புலிகள்
Active5 July 1987 – 18 May 2009
CountrySri Lanka
BranchLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
TypeCommando
RoleAnti-tank warfare
Artillery observer
Assassination
Close-quarters combat
Direct action
Executive protection
HUMINT
Irregular warfare
Jungle warfare
Long-range penetration
Mountain warfare
Naval boarding
Patrolling
Raiding
Reconnaissance
Special operations
Special reconnaissance
Suicide attack
Tracking
Urban warfare
Size300–400
Part ofLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
ColorsBlack and Grey
Anniversaries5 July (Regimental day)
EngagementsSri Lankan Civil War
Commanders
Colonel of
the Regiment
Pottu Amman
Notable
commanders
Pottu Amman
Kapil Amman
Ratnam Master 
Colonel Charles

The Black Tigers (Tamil: கரும்புலிகள்) was an elite suicide commando (special operations capable) unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant Tamil separatist organization in Sri Lanka.

They were specially selected and trained LTTE cadres whose missions included direct action, irregular warfare, and mounting suicide attacks primarily against military targets. Economic and political targets were also targeted at times, among them Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Civilians were also killed during certain attacks such as the bombing of the Central Bank and the Temple of the Tooth attack.

Since their formation in 1987 until the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in 2009, more than 330 Black Tigers made suicide attacks on air, land, and sea, mostly in Sri Lanka.[1] Experts estimated that the Black Tigers had carried out the most of suicide attacks reported around the world by the time the Sri Lankan civil war ended in 2009.[2]

Badge of Land Black Tigers
  1. ^ Athas, Iqbal (8 July 2007). "The terrible truth behind the freezer truck". Sunday Times (Sri Lanka).
  2. ^ Gunia, Amy (25 April 2019). "The Birthplace of Suicide Bombing: Sri Lanka's Grim History". Time.