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Thenmuli Rajaratnam (?? - 1991) was the assassin who killed Rajiv Gandhi, herself, and 16 others in a suicide bombing on May 21, 1991, in the Indian town of Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. An associate of The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the Tamil Tigers), Rajaratnam was also known as Dhanu. Her birth year has not been conclusively established. The recorded History of Sri Lanka boasts of 25 chronicled centuries. ... The origins of the Sri Lankan civil war lie in sharp disagreements over language, access to universities, and riots between Sri Lankas majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil community. ... Location of Sri Lanka Black July is the commonly used name of the pogroms starting in Sri Lanka on July 23, 1983. ... Following is a List of riots and pogroms in Sri Lanka. ... The situation of human rights in Sri Lanka is generally considered to be very poor[1]. Major human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have repeatedly expressed concern about the states of human rights in Sri Lanka. ... Burnt shell of the post event library Several groups have alleged that there have been instances of state terrorism in Sri Lanka. ... Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka to create an independent Tamil Eelam. ... Tamil Tigers emblem The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers, is a military and political organization that has waged a violent secessionist campaign against the Sri Lankan Government since the 1970s in order to secure independence for the Tamil portions of Sri Lanka. ... LTTE is a rebel group active in Sri Lanka that is banned as a terrorist group by 29 countries. ... The following is a list of terrorist attacks attributed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (commonly known as the Tamil Tigers or simply the LTTE). ... Assassinations, murders and wholesale massacres of civilians in Sri Lanka have become an internationally recognized problem since the inception of the Sri Lankan civil war since 1983. ... Military use of children in Sri Lanka has been an internationally recognized problem since the inception of the Sri Lankan civil war in 1983. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Mahinda Rajapaksa Mahinda Rajapaksa (born November 18, 1945), Sri Lankan politician, became Prime Minister of Sri Lanka on April 6, 2004, following the victory of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance in the April 2, 2004 Sri Lankan legislative elections. ... Velupillai Prabhakaran (Tamil: வேலுப்பிள்ளை பிரபாகரன்; born November 26, 1954), sometimes referred to as V. Prabhakaran or Pirabaharan or as Thambi,[] was born in the northern coastal town of Velvettithurai, Sri Lanka to Thiruvenkadam Velupillai and Vallipuram Parvathy. ... Karuna Amman was the second highest commanding officer of the LTTE who broke away due to Tigers attacks on civilians in Batticaloa, corruption within LTTE and the recruitment of child soldiers. ... Category: ... Operation Poomalai or Eagle Mission 4 was the codename assigned to a mercy mission undertaken by the Indian Air Force to airdrop humanitarian relief supplies over the town of Jaffna and Jaffna Peninsula on 4 June 1987. ... The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was an accord signed in Colombo on July 29, 1987, between Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayewardene. ... Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. ... Rajiv Ratna Gandhi (IPA: ) (August 20, 1944 – May 21, 1991), the eldest son of Indira. ... Research and Analysis Wing (RAW or R&AW)[1] is Indias external intelligence agency. ... The Military of Sri Lanka consists of Three Branches which are the Army, Navy, Air Force which comes under the Ministry of Defence. ... Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (Tamil: தமிழீழ மக்கள் விடுதலைப்புலிகள், English: Tamileela Peoples Liberation Tigers) is a political party and paramilitary group formed in 2004 by break-away LTTE Military Head of Batticaloa district V. Muralitharan (Colonel Karuna). ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Assassinations, murders and massacres of civilians in Sri Lanka have become an internationally recognized problem since the inception of the Sri Lankan civil war since 1983. ... Jack Ruby murdered the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in a very public manner. ... Rajiv Ratna Gandhi (IPA: ) (August 20, 1944 – May 21, 1991), the eldest son of Indira. ... A suicide bombing is an attack using a bomb in which the individual(s) carrying the explosive materials composing the bomb intend(s) and expect(s) to die upon detonation (see suicide). ... May 21 is the 141st day of the year (142nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the 1991 Gregorian calendar). ... Sriperumbudur, located in proximity to Chennai, is a town in Kanchipuram district of Tamilnadu, India. ... , “Madras” redirects here. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

The assassination

Rajiv Gandhi was campaigning in Tamil Nadu for upcoming parliamentary elections when the bombing occurred. The last time Rajiv Gandhi had been in power, his government was instrumental in sending a peace keeping force into Sri Lanka to help enforce a peace accord, which earned the ire of various Tamil militant groups. The troops he had sent in 1987 had fought the Tamil separatist guerrillas. ^{[citation needed]}. It has been reported that Rajaratnam's personal motivation for becoming a suicide bomber occurred from her alleged rape by Indian soldiers during that time. Marginal opinion exists that she left LTTE after the rape incident by Indian soldiers, and had acted of her own accord. Others believe that the rape of Thenmuli is a myth perpetuated by the LTTE sympathisers. Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ... Location of Sri Lanka Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation that was formed to oversee the peace accord signed between India and Sri Lanka in 1987, trying to solve the conflict between Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Sri Lankan armed forces. ... Year 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar). ... A suicide bombing is a bomb attack on people or property, committed by a person who knows the explosion will cause his or her own death in addition to the attacks primary purpose (see suicide, suicide weapons). ...

Rajaratnam had the belt bomb with the explosive material in her lower back region and the power pack, two switches and the circuitry in front. One switch initiated the circuitry and the other activated the bomb. The explosive used was an RDX, about 10,000 2 mm steel balls were embedded in the bomb. After garlanding Rajiv Gandhi, Rajaratnam evidently stooped to touch his feet and activated the explosive. Rajiv Gandhi must have tried to stop her; his face bore the impact of the blast. Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, also known as RDX, cyclonite,hexogen, and T4, is an nitroamine and explosive material widely used by the military. ...

Seven years later in 1998, an Indian court convicted twenty-six people in the conspiracy to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi. Upon appeal, only 4 of the conspirators were executed.

See also

• [1]
• The Terrorist (film)

The film The Terrorist (Theeviravaathi - original Tamil title) portrays a period in the life of a nineteen-year-old woman, Malli (Ayesha Dharkar), sent to assassinate a leader in South Asia through a suicide bombing. ...

External link

• Interim Report of the Jain Commission of Inquiry into the Assassination of Shri Rajiv Gandhi