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Colonel Karuna




Karuna was born in Kiran , a village in the Batticaloa district in eastern Sri Lanka. He joined the LTTE in 1983 and became a top commander in the district he represented. He was once even a bodyguard to Velupillai Prabhakaran , the LTTE chief. In the late 1990s, he helped organize the capture of the Elephant Pass in northern Sri Lanka in order to use it as a bargaining chip with the government.

In March 2004, Karuna broke away from the mainstream LTTE after he alleged they were ignoring the interests of the eastern Tamil people. The Tigers reacted by launching attacks against Karuna's forces, and heavy clashes ensued. By 2005, Karuna's force was the main focal point of the LTTE's anger toward the government, as they charged that it was being used by the Sri Lankan military to wage a covert war against the northern Tigers.


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