Tiger's Shadow: Tamil terror still a threat to country

TERROR THREAT: The LTTE continues to have a strong base in Tamil Nadu.

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May 21, 1991: Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE at Sriperumbudur
February 14, 1998: Bomblasts in Coimbatore

These two incidents in the 90s put Tamil Nadu on the terror map. A decade later, intelligence analysts say, the threat persists.

The LTTE continues to have a strong base in Tamil Nadu. Fearing the loss of support from Tamil politicians the outfit has sworn never to directly attack India again.

But does that mean Tamil terrorism can be completely ruled out?

While LTTE may not directly attack the country, an equally dangerous pattern is emerging. Gun-running and supplying arms and ammunitions to various terror outfits across the world on a purely commercial basis, which in turn could be used to target India.

Intelligence Analyst Colonel Hariharan said, “There's a recent report that says LTTE has supplied weapons to al-Qaeda. They have been supplying three tonne shiploads of arms to Bangladesh - some of these went to ULFA. they supply parts for low level terror weapons - like iron balls.”

The other major threat is from militant outfits - once Tamil Nadu was a breeding ground for some of them.

Like the Al-Umma, which was active in the state from 1993 to 1999. A crackdown following the Coimbatore blasts ensured that the outfit lost its teeth. Its leaders, like S A Basha, are now in jail.

Another outfit was the Muslim Defence Force. MDF was setup in 2002 under the guidance of HuJI terrorist Abu Hamza.

30 Muslim youth came together in Thenkashi to form what was to be the Lashkar-e-Toiba’s branch in the South.

But a year later the police stumbled on a meeting of the fledgling outfit and that was the end of it.

Intelligence Analyst B Raman said, “Since 2003 there has been no evidence to prove that there is any Islamic terror activity in Tamil Nadu. We can't say it isn't there, there's just no evidence.”

Jehadi outfits find it hard to establish roots here due to the language barrier. But the police aren’t taking any chances.

The Bangalore and Hyderabad terror attacks have been too close for comfort. And so the vigil has been stepped up.

The biggest question on everyone's minds now - is Chennai next on the terror hit list?