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 …