India stepped in by supplying weapons and training to Sri Lankan Tamil insurgents. The plan backfired. After infighting between Tamil groups, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam became the lone predominant force and evolved into one of the most sophisticated and feared terrorist groups anywhere. The Tigers invented the suicide vest, used child soldiers, ran a totalitarian state in the north of the country, carried out civilian massacres of women and children, and made a godlike figure of their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
