Sri Lanka has designated 15 foreign organisations run by ethnic Tamils as "terrorist groups", accusing them of trying to revive a separatist war which ended in 2009, an official said Wednesday. The government suspects the groups of being linked to the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which was crushed by government forces after decades of combat in May 2009, an information department official said.
"The main objective of this (latest ban) is to ensure that the Tamil organisations abroad will not be allowed to send money into the country," the official said, asking not to be named.