Remembering the Black Tigers

21 Black Tiger elite commandos who took part in the raid on a Sri Lankan airbase in Anuradhapura, 2007

On July 5, Eelam Tamils across the world remember and mourn the sacrifices made by the LTTEs elite women and men, the Black Tigers. “Karumpuli Naal” marks the sacrifice made by the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller, or Vallipuram Vasanthan, 39 years ago.

In 1987, he attacked a Sri Lankan Army garrison in Nelliyadi in the Jaffna district, by driving a small truck with explosives into it. Forty Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in the attack.

In 2007, a group of 21 LTTE Black Tiger commandos, smashed the Anuradhapura Air Force Base with reports that all but three of the 27 aircraft in the base were destroyed or damaged. The estmiated damage was reported to be above US$ 30 million. Read our coverage at the time here.

In 2008 the LTTE declared that 356 Black Tigers had laid down their lives, 254 of them in sea operations since Captain Millers attack. It is not yet known how many sacrificed their lives during the final phases of the war.

A memory that lives on

Karumpuli Naal was observed widely in the North-East until 2009, where thousands of Tamils turned out to show their respect.

Several monuments were constructed in honour of the Black Tigers, including a statue of Captain Miller. Captain Miller, or Vallipuram Vasanthan, was a student at Hartley College in Point Pedro.

Statue of Captain Miller in Nelliyadi, Jaffna. 2003.

His statue was destroyed by armed men in 2006, suspected to be Sri Lankan soldiers. Other memorial stones have since been destroyed by the Sri Lankan military, including the graves of all LTTE cadre.

The damaged statue in 2006. Photograph TamilNet 

Destroyed Miller statue in 2012. Photograph @Saygi

Tamils across the homeland have also commemorated the sacrifice of Captain Angayarkanni the first female Black Tiger, who was martyred on August 10, 1994. In 2019, Tamils in Kilinochchi remembered her sacrifice as part of International Womens Day.