The Sri Lankan Civil War was a civil war fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, it was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by Velupillai Prabhakaran. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island, due to the continuous discrimination and violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka government.
Seven pillars surround the site of the blast, at the Rajiv Gandhi Memorial in Sriperumbudur
Improvised armoured bulldozer used by the LTTE in the operation Aakaya Kadal Veli, also known as the First Battle of Elephant Pass (1991), one of the major battles. This bulldozer was destroyed by Cpl. Gamini Kularatne. Today it stands on display as a war memorial.
LTTE Sea Tiger boat patrolling during the peace
Photo release by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation dipicting civilians being displaced as a result of the Sri Lanka Army's military offensive. January 2009.
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same state .
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.
The term is a calque of Latin bellum civile which was used to refer to the various civil wars of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC.
Members of the Red Guards during the Finnish Civil War of 1918
The destruction wrought on Granollers after a raid by German aircraft on 31 May 1938 during the Spanish Civil War
Aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg, American Civil War, 1863
Tanks in the streets of Addis Ababa after rebels seized the capital during the Ethiopian Civil War (1991)
