LTTE using India just like Taliban, Al-Qaeda use Pak: Stratfor

With Sri Lankan troops "hammering them", the LTTE, which has "logistical and training infrastructure" in India, is using the country just like the Taliban and Al-Qaida use Pakistan, a leading US think tank has claimed.

"Support in Tamil Nadu means that the Tigers can and do exploit the international border to their advantage. The Tigers use India in much the same way that the Taliban and Al-Qaida use Pakistan," Stratfor in its latest report titled - 'The Conflict in Sri Lanka: A Cornered Tiger Is Still Deadly', said.

"The Tigers' logistical and training infrastructure in India is especially important during times (like the present) when the Sri Lankan government is hammering them. The Tigers also have a long history of working with an array of other militant groups in India and the general region," it said.

The Texas based agency said the cooperation between militant groups in India and the LTTE is not based on ideology, but rather on mutual benefit, such as bolstering the groups' ability to smuggle weapons and other goods.

Stratfor said if Lankan troops manage to crush the remnants of the Tigers' military forces, "the Tigers will have little choice but to give up on conventional warfare (at least for the time being)."

It, however, said Tigers would not fade into history and will melt back into the populace just like the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.