The Tamil Tigers' use of weaponized light aircraft against Colombo marked one of the few instances of a non-state actor deploying aircraft as suicide weapons.
Key Facts
- Date
- February 20, 2009
- Aircraft used
- 2 weaponized light aircraft
- Deaths
- 2 people
- Injuries
- Over 50 people
- Perpetrators
- Air wing of the Tamil Tigers (LTTE)
- Aircraft downed
- Both aircraft shot down by Sri Lanka Air Force
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Tamil Tigers, a separatist militia fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka, maintained an air wing capable of operating light aircraft. Amid a deteriorating military situation in early 2009, the group sought to strike high-profile targets in the capital, reportedly drawing inspiration from the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
On February 20, 2009, the LTTE air wing launched two suicide aircraft missions targeting military locations in and around Colombo. Sri Lanka Air Force interceptors shot down both planes before they reached their presumed targets. One aircraft nevertheless struck a government building in Colombo, killing two people, with more than 50 total injured across both crash sites.
The failed attack demonstrated both the ambition and the limitations of the LTTE air wing in the final months of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Sri Lankan authorities and military forces remained on high alert, and the incident drew international attention to the group's unconventional capabilities shortly before the Tamil Tigers were militarily defeated in May 2009.