I remember the cities and the nervousness, the shy glances. And the international airport that most resembled a military base, embedded in the betonghinder and sandbags. When I visited the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo for nearly a quarter-century ago, in november 1995, was the civil war between the tamils, who wanted an independent state, and the sinhala government forces entered a particularly bloody phase.

the Tamil suicide bombers had attacked the diplomatic quarter in Colombo, oljedepåerna in the port and the arméhögkvarteret. The Sri Lankan air force had bombed a school with tamil pupils, dozens of children had been killed.

the tamil minority – the majority of whom are hindus and the sinhalese majority of the population (mainly buddhists) had been around since the Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, became independent from Britain in 1948.

Tamilernas struggle for empowerment was initially peaceful. But in 1976, founded the 22-year-old tamilen Resulted Prabhakaran the guerrilla Tamil Eelams befrielsetigrar (LTTE), a group completely focused on martyrdom and cult of death. Prabhakaran, who was not averse to sending out women and children in battle, gave to the LTTE warriors a capsule with cyankalium to hang around the neck. If they were taken prisoner they would bite in giftbehållaren.

from India, but it ended soon and the tigers turned their weapons also against the neighbor to the north. In 1991, killed the indian toppolitikern Rajiv Gandhi by a female suicide bomber during a meeting in the south indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The tamil tigers are the armed group that in modern times have made suicide attacks to a part of the krigsföringen. Before the US occupation of Iraq in 2003 did the LTTE, the most självmordsdåd in the world.

This dubious peak was effective in the short term. The tamils carved out a territory on the northern part of the island where they established a de facto state. But the LTTE’s kompromisslöshet punished in the long run. The tamils split increasingly and the pressure from the sri lankan army became harder. Violence escalated. Norway did attempt to mediate, but the agreements on ceasefires were short-lived.

a large number of countries and organizations, among them the united states and the EUROPEAN union.

the Offensive in the autumn of 1995, I was eyewitness to, upholstered is not the civil war, which would last another fourteen years. The conflict ended dramatically with a stretch slutstrid where Vellupillai Prabhakaran was killed. 16 may 2009 added gerillasoldaterna down their weapons and admitted themselves defeated.

the Afterbirth of the war have been heavy and difficult: upwards of 100,000 dead, most of them civilians. A half a million internally displaced persons. Both sides accused of war crimes.

between the sinhalese and the tamils has been slow. So far nobody has been prosecuted for the war crimes during the civil war. The reluctance of the Sri Lankan rulers to take hold of the matter has been palpable. The minorities – tamils, muslims, christians – feel aggrieved.

In the Sri Lanka of today trying to recover from one of modern history’s bloodiest terrorist attack, there is much that is familiar from the war years: the soldiers everywhere on the streets. News transmission is subjected to censorship. Charterbolagen stops its travel.

But there are also crucial differences. When did the sri lankan state who was an enemy. Today, it is still unclear who planned and conducted the terrorist attacks, and if the evil of the funding will continue.

He stopped själmordsbombare from going into the church,

Catholic churches closed

Seven men and a woman – they carried out the attacks