Sri Lanka

1983 - 2009

Beginning on 23 July 1983, there was an intermittent insurgency against the Sri Lankan government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a separatist militant organisation which fought to create an independent Tamil state in the North and the East of the island. After a 26-year military campaign, the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, bringing the Civil War to an end. The Sri Lankan Civil War was very bloody, costing the lives of an estimated 80,000-100,000 people. The deaths include at least 27,600 LTTE fighters, 23,790 Sri Lankan soldiers and policemen, 1,155 Indian soldiers, and tens of thousands of civilians.