Banner

The Suicide Club

Christopher Hazou September 9, 2009 Velupillai Prabhakaran died in May, but the Tamil Tiger leader survives through his most famous innovation: the suicide bomb.

On May 18, cell phones across Sri Lanka flashed with a text message that provoked street celebrations in the capital: Velupillai Prabhakaran had been killed by government forces.

Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Prabhakaran had acquired a reputation as a ruthless and resourceful guerrilla commander. Much of that notoriety was due to the suicide-bombing techniques he pioneered in his twenty-six-year quest for an independent Tamil state. His “Black Tiger” cadre—whose members came from mostly Hindu and Christian backgrounds—was the first to use suicide vests, which allowed access to difficult-to-reach targets (including underwater bombings to …

  • You must be a subscriber to view the rest of this content.
Tenth Anniversary: Spring

ISSUE 43 Tenth Anniversary: Spring 2012

online content:

also in this issue:

  • Face the Music

    by Tim Falconer How can someone who passionately loves music also be a terrible singer? Tim Falconer takes up voice lessons—and discovers the surprising science of tone deafness.

  • The Big Job

    by Deni Y. Béchard As a teenager, Deni Y. Béchard went to Vancouver to live with his father, an ex-con with a penchant for telling tall tales. He met a man desperate to forget the past.

  • The Homesickness of Astronauts

    by Johanna Skibsrud "She felt a great sadness. She would remember next to nothing of this, even soon."
  • [see full issue contents]