Eelam War I (1983–1987) Supported by the ongoing politics of conflict in Sri Lanka, politicised Tamil youth in the north and east started to form
militant groups. These groups developed independently of the Colombo Tamil leadership, and in the end rejected and annihilated them. The most prominent of these groups was the TNT, which changed its name to the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or the LTTE, in 1976. The LTTE initially carried out a campaign of violence against the state, particularly targeting policemen and also moderate Tamil politicians who attempted a dialogue with the government. Their first major operation was the assassination of the mayor of Jaffna,
Alfred Duraiappah, in 1975 by Prabhakaran. The LTTE's
modus operandi of the early war was based on assassinations, whereas the mode of operation of the then government was through setting up a series of checkpoints around the city. The attempted assassination in 1978 of a Tamil Member of Parliament,
M. Canagaratnam, was carried out personally by Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE. In May 1981 the
burning of the Jaffna library, in the presence of two Sinhalese cabinet members, by what witnesses described as uniformed police and Sinhalese mobs, resulted in the destruction of more than 90,000 books, including
palm leaf scrolls of immense historical value. This violent example of ethnic biblioclasm was a major turning point in convincing the Tamil people that the government could not protect them or their cultural heritage and persuaded many of them to back a separate state. On 23 July 1983, the LTTE ambushed the Army patrol
Four Four Bravo in
Thirunelveli, Jaffna and killed thirteen soldiers. The ambush provided the pretext for the pre-planned
Black July pogrom to be unleashed against the Tamil community in
Colombo in which 3,500-4,000 Tamils were killed. Before the pogrom the LTTE had only 30 full-time members. Apart from the LTTE, there were initially several other
Tamil militant groups. The LTTE's position, adopted from that of the
PLO, was that there should be only one. In mid-1984, Sinhalese convicts were settled in the Kent and Dollar farms in the north after the Tamil civilians living there were evicted by the Sri Lankan Police. The settlement of prisoners was used to further harass Tamils into leaving the area. The Sinhala settlers also confirmed that young Tamil women were abducted and brought there to be gang raped by the guards and prisoners. In response, the LTTE carried out the first massacre of Sinhalese civilians when it
attacked the Kent and Dollar Farm in late 1984, killing 62 men, women and children. Further attacks were often carried out in revenge for
attacks committed by the Sri Lankan Army, such as the
Anuradhapura massacre which immediately followed the
Valvettithurai massacre. The Anuradhapura massacre sparked the
Kumudini boat massacre in which over 23 Tamil civilians died. Over time the LTTE merged with or largely eliminated almost all the other militant Tamil groups. As a result, many Tamil splinter groups ended up working with the Sri Lankan government as paramilitaries or denounced violence and joined mainstream politics; some Tamil-oriented political parties remained, all opposed to LTTE's vision of an independent state. Peace talks between the LTTE and the government began in
Thimphu in 1985, but they soon failed and the war resumed. In 1986 many civilians were
massacred by the army as part of this conflict. In 1987 government troops pushed LTTE fighters to the northern city of
Jaffna. In April 1987 the conflict exploded with ferocity, as both government forces and LTTE fighters engaged in a series of bloody operations. The Sri Lankan military launched an offensive, called "Operation Liberation" or
Vadamarachchi Operation, during May–June 1987 to regain control of the territory in the Jaffna peninsula from the LTTE. This marked the Sri Lankan military's first conventional warfare on Sri Lankan soil since independence. The offensive was successful, and LTTE leader Prabhakaran and
Sea Tiger leader
Thillaiyampalam Sivanesan alias Soosai narrowly escaped from advancing troops at Valvettithurai. Key military personnel involved in the operation were Lt Col. Vipul Boteju, Lt. Col. Sarath Jayawardane, Col.
Vijaya Wimalaratne and Brig. Gen.
Denzil Kobbekaduwa. In July 1987 the LTTE carried out their first suicide attack.
Captain Miller drove a small truck carrying explosives through the wall of a fortified Sri Lankan army camp, reportedly killing 40 soldiers. Throughout the war the LTTE would carry out over 378
suicide attacks, among the highest in the world, and the tactic became a trademark of the LTTE and a characteristic of the civil war.
Indian intervention (1987–1990) Involvement was particularly strong in the Indian state of
Tamil Nadu, where ethnic kinship led to strong support for the independence of Sri Lankan Tamils. Throughout the conflict the Indian central and state governments supported both sides in different ways. From August 1983 until May 1987 the Indian government, through its intelligence agency
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), provided arms, training and monetary support to six Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups including LTTE,
Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO),
People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE),
Eelam Revolutionary Organisation of Students (EROS),
Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and
Tamil Eelam Liberation Army (TELA). LTTE's rise is widely attributed to the initial backing it received from RAW. It is believed that by supporting different militant groups, the Indian government hoped to keep the Tamil independence movement divided and be able to exert overt control over it. India became more actively involved in the late 1980s, and on 5 June 1987 the
Indian Air Force airdropped food parcels to
Jaffna while it was
under siege by Sri Lankan forces. At a time when the Sri Lankan government stated it was close to defeating the LTTE, India dropped 25 tons of food and medicine by parachute into areas held by the LTTE in a direct move of support to the rebels. Negotiations were held, and the
Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord was signed on 29 July 1987 by Indian Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President
Jayewardene. Under this accord the Sri Lankan government made a number of concessions to Tamil demands, including
devolution of power to the
provinces, a mergersubject to later referendumof the northern and eastern provinces into a
single province, and official status for the Tamil language (this was enacted as the 13th Amendment to the
Constitution of Sri Lanka). India agreed to establish order in the north and east through the
Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and to cease assisting Tamil insurgents. Militant groups including the LTTE, although initially reluctant, agreed to surrender their arms to the IPKF, which initially oversaw a cease-fire and a modest
disarmament of the militant groups. The Sri Lankan armed forces were confined to barracks in the north and east, and Sinhalese settlers were disarmed. In October 1987, 12 LTTE members who were prisoners of the government
committed suicide, leading to anti-Sinhalese
violence committed by Tamil militants, especially the LTTE, throughout the Eastern Province in which 150 Sinhalese were killed and tens of thousands were made refugees. The signing of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, so soon after J.R. Jayawardene's declaration that he would fight the Indians to the last bullet, led to unrest in the south. The arrival of the IPKF to take control of most areas in the north of the country enabled the Sri Lanka government to shift its forces to the south to quell the protests. This led to an
uprising by the
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in the south, which was put down bloodily over the next two years. While most Tamil militant groups laid down their weapons and agreed to seek a peaceful solution to the conflict, the LTTE refused to disarm its fighters. Keen to ensure the success of the accord, the IPKF then tried to demobilise the LTTE by force and ended up in full-scale conflict with them. The three-year-long conflict was also marked by the IPKF being accused of committing various abuses by many human rights groups as well as some within the Indian media. The IPKF also soon met stiff opposition from the Tamils. Simultaneously, nationalist sentiment led many Sinhalese to oppose the continued Indian presence in Sri Lanka. These led to the Sri Lankan government's call for India to quit the island, and the government allegedly entered into a secret deal with the LTTE that culminated in a cease-fire. However, the LTTE and IPKF continued to have frequent clashes. In April 1989 the
Ranasinghe Premadasa government ordered the
Sri Lanka army to clandestinely hand over arms consignments to the LTTE to fight the IPKF and its proxy Tamil National Army (TNA). Although casualties among the IPKF mounted, and calls for the withdrawal of the IPKF from both sides of the Sri Lankan conflict grew, Gandhi refused to remove the IPKF from Sri Lanka. However, following his defeat in Indian parliamentary elections in December 1989, new Prime Minister
V.P. Singh ordered the withdrawal of the IPKF, and their last ship left Sri Lanka on 24 March 1990. The 32-month presence of the IPKF in Sri Lanka resulted in the deaths of 1200 Indian soldiers and over 5000 Sri Lankans. The cost for the Indian government was estimated at over ₹10.3 billion.
Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in
Sriperumbudur Support for the LTTE in India dropped considerably in 1991, after the assassination of ex-Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi by a female suicide bomber,
Thenmozhi Rajaratnam. The Indian press subsequently reported that Prabhakaran decided to eliminate Gandhi, as he considered the ex-Prime Minister to be against the Tamil liberation struggle and feared that he might re-induct the IPKF, which Prabhakaran termed the "satanic force", if he won the
1991 Indian general election. In 1998 a court in India presided over by Special Judge V. Navaneetham found the LTTE and its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran responsible for the assassination. In a 2006 interview, LTTE ideologue Anton Balasingham expressed regret over the assassination, although he stopped short of outright acceptance of responsibility. In a 2011 interview,
Kumaran Pathmanathan, who was the Treasurer of LTTE and its chief arms procurer, apologised to India for Velupillai Prabhakaran's "mistake" of killing former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He further said Rajiv's assassination was "well planned and done actually with Prabhakaran and (LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman). Everyone knows the truth". India remained an outside observer of the conflict after the assassination.
Eelam War II (1990–1995) 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. The violence continued unabated despite the steps taken to appease Tamil sentiments, such as the
13th Amendment (enacted in November 1987). Meanwhile, the Chief Minister of the then
North and East Provincial Council,
Vartharaja Perumal, put forward a 19-point demand to resolve the ethnic crisis. He threatened if these demands were not met that the Provincial Council would go ahead with a
unilateral declaration of independence of the northern and eastern provinces, as in the case of
Rhodesia. President Premadasa moved to quickly dissolve the Council (March 1990). At the same time LTTE used terror tactics to scare Sinhalese and Muslim farmers away from the north and east of the island, and swiftly took control of a significant portion of the territory. When the
Indian Peace-Keeping Force withdrew in 1989–90, the LTTE established many government-like functions in the areas under its control. A tentative cease-fire held in 1990 as the LTTE occupied itself with destroying rival Tamil groups while the government cracked down on the JVP uprising with the
Operation Combine. When both major combatants had established their power bases, they turned on each other and the cease-fire broke down. The government then launched an offensive and tried to retake Jaffna but failed. This phase of the war soon acquired the name
Eelam War II, and featured unprecedented brutality. On 11 June 1990 the LTTE
massacred 600 policemen in the
Eastern Province after they had surrendered on promises of safe-conduct. The government placed an embargo on food and medicine entering the Jaffna peninsula and the air force relentlessly bombed the north. In the second half of 1990, 4500 Tamils were killed or disappeared by security forces in
Batticaloa and
Amparai District alone. The LTTE responded by
attacking Sinhalese and Muslim villages and massacring civilians. One of the largest civilian massacres of the war occurred when the LTTE
massacred 166 Muslim civilians at Palliyagodella. The government trained and armed Home Guard Muslim units. Notable international jurist
Neelan Thiruchelvam, in a speech at the ICES-Colombo, indicated that the appropriate investigations into
massacres and
disappearances of civilians including many children in the
Sathurukondan,
Eastern University,
Mylanthanai and the mass murder and burial of school children at
Sooriyakanda were hampered by the adoption of emergency regulations which contributed to a climate of impunity. Along roadsides in the north and east, burning bodies became a common sight. Throughout the country, government death squads hunted down, kidnapped or killed Sinhalese or Tamil youth suspected of sympathising with the JVP or the LTTE, respectively. In October 1990 the LTTE
expelled all the Muslims residing in Northern province. A total of 72,000 Muslims were forced to leave their homes, taking nothing but the clothes on their backs. The largest battle of the war took place in July 1991, when 5,000 LTTE fighters surrounded the army's
Elephant Pass base, which controlled access to the
Jaffna Peninsula. More than 2,000 died on both sides in the month-long siege, before 10,000 government troops arrived to relieve the base. In February 1992 another series of government offensives failed to capture Jaffna. Lt. Gen.
Denzil Kobbekaduwa together with Maj. Gen.
Vijaya Wimalaratne and Rear Adm.
Mohan Jayamaha, died on 8 August 1992 at Araly (Aeraella) point
Jaffna due to a
land mine blast. Their deaths badly affected military morale. The LTTE also scored a major victory when one of its suicide bombers killed Sri Lankan President
Ranasinghe Premadasa in May 1993. In November 1993 the LTTE defeated the army in the
Battle of Pooneryn. This attack left 532 Sri Lankan soldiers and 135 sailors either dead or
missing in action. The new government then pursued a policy of "war for peace". Determined to retake the key rebel stronghold of Jaffna, which was occupied by 2,000 rebels, it poured troops into the peninsula in the successful
Operation Riviresa. In one particular incident in August 1995, Air Force jets bombed St. Peter's church at Navali (Naavaella),
killing at least 65 refugees and wounding 150 others. In another instance in the same year, over 40 people were massacred in
Nagerkovil and more civilian massacres followed in subsequent years, such as the
Kumarapuram massacre,
Tampalakamam massacre,
Puthukkudiyiruppu massacre, etc., all of them carried out by government forces. Government troops initially cut off the peninsula from the rest of the island, Many civilians were killed in this conflict, such as the
Navaly church bombing in which over 125 civilians died. The LTTE and more than 350,000 civilians, compelled by SL military operations and LTTE pressure to leave Jaffna, fled to the
Vanni region in the interior. Most of the refugees returned later the next year. The LTTE responded by launching
Operation Unceasing Waves and decisively won the
Battle of Mullaitivu on 18 July 1996, leaving 1,173 army troops dead which included 207 officers and men executed after surrendering to the LTTE. The government launched another offensive in August 1996. Another 200,000 civilians fled the violence. The death toll amounted to 516 soldiers dead and over 4,000 injured. On 22 April 2000 the Elephant Pass military complex, which had separated the Jaffna peninsula from the Vanni mainland for 17 years, fell into the hands of the LTTE, leaving 1,008 soldiers dead. The army then launched Operation Agni Kheela to take back the southern Jaffna Peninsula, but sustained losses.
Early peace efforts Exhaustion with the war was building as casualties mounted and there appeared to be no end in sight. By mid-2000 human rights groups estimated that more than one million people in Sri Lanka were
internally displaced persons, living in camps, homeless and struggling for survival. As a result, a significant
peace movement developed in the late 1990s, with many organisations holding peace camps, conferences, training and peace meditations, and many other efforts to bridge the two sides at all levels. As early as February 2000 Norway was asked to mediate by both sides, and initial international diplomatic moves began to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict. Hopes for peace gained ground as the LTTE declared a unilateral cease-fire in December 2000, but they cancelled it on 24 April 2001 and launched another offensive against the government. After securing a vast area formerly controlled by the military, the LTTE further advanced northwards. This advancement posed a serious threat to the Elephant Pass military complex that housed 17,000 Sri Lankan troops. In July 2001 the LTTE carried out a devastating
suicide attack on Bandaranaike International Airport, destroying eight of the air force's planes (two
IAI Kfirs, one
Mil-17, one
Mil-24, three
K-8 trainers, one
MiG-27) and four
SriLankan Airlines planes (two
Airbus A330s, one
A340 and one
A320), dampening the economy and causing tourisma vital foreign exchange earner for the governmentto plummet. The impact of the attack was so devastating that in that year the
Sri Lankan economy recorded a negative growth for the first and only time since its independence.
2002 peace process (2002–2006) Beginning of the cease-fire Towards the end of 2001 however, the LTTE began to declare their willingness to explore measures for a peaceful settlement to the conflict. One reason for this action may have been the fear of international pressure and the direct US support of the Sri Lankan government as part of the "
war on terror". During this period,
Vaithilingam Sornalingam alias Shankar, who had been considered the right-hand man of LTTE leader Prabhakaran, and several other high-profile leaders were hunted down and killed by LRRP units. In the south the government was facing increasing criticism over its "war for peace" strategy, with peace nowhere in sight and the economy in tatters. After losing a no-confidence motion, President Kumaratunga was forced to dissolve parliament and call for fresh elections. The
elections, held on 5 December 2001, saw a sweeping victory for the
United National Front, led by
Ranil Wickremasinghe, who campaigned on a pro-peace platform and pledged to find a negotiated settlement to the conflict. On 19 December, amidst efforts by Norway to bring the government and the Tamil Tigers to the negotiating table, the LTTE announced a 30-day cease-fire with the Sri Lankan government and pledged to halt all attacks against government forces. The new government welcomed the move, and reciprocated it two days later, announcing a month-long cease-fire and agreeing to lift a long-standing economic
embargo on rebel-held territory. The cease-fire was by no means acceptable to everyone. Buddhist monks started burning Norwegian flags and agitated against the cease-fire and eventually went to form a political party,
Jathika Hela Urumaya, with extremist views.
Signing of Memorandum of Understanding The two sides formalised a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 22 February 2002, and signed a permanent cease-fire agreement (CFA). Norway was named
mediator, and it was decided that they, together with the other Nordic countries, monitor the cease-fire through a committee of experts named the
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission. In August the government agreed to lift the ban on the LTTE and paved the way for the resumption of direct negotiations with them. boat patrolling during the peace Following the signing of the ceasefire agreement, commercial air flights to Jaffna began and the LTTE opened the key A9 highway, which linked the government-controlled area in the south with Jaffna and ran through LTTE territory, allowing civilian traffic through the Vanni region for the first time in many years (but only after paying a tax to the LTTE). Many foreign countries also offered substantial financial support if peace was achieved and optimism grew that an end to the decades-long conflict was in sight. The much-anticipated peace talks began in
Phuket, Thailand, and further rounds followed in Thailand, Norway, Germany and Japan. During the talks both sides agreed to the principle of a federal solution and the Tigers dropped their long-standing demand for a separate state. This was a major compromise on the part of the LTTE, which had always insisted on an independent Tamil state. This also represented a compromise on the part of the government, which had seldom agreed to more than minimal devolution. Both sides also exchanged prisoners of war for the first time.
Political changes in the South Following the elections of 2001, for the first time in Sri Lanka's history the President and Prime Minister were of two different parties. This co-habitation was uneasy, especially since Prime Minister Wickremasinghe and the UNP favoured a federal solution to the conflict, while hard-line elements within President Kumaratunga's party and other Sinhala nationalist groups allied to her opposed one, as they did not trust the LTTE, which continued to levy taxes, strengthen itself by smuggling in arms and ammunition, recruit child soldiers and engage in killings of members of rival Tamil groups and government intelligence agents following the
Millennium City incident. During this time the LTTE also succeeded in setting up a series of vital bases around the
Trincomalee Harbour (
i.e., Manirasakulam camp) and the Eastern Province. The talks broke down on 21 April 2003 when the Tamil Tigers announced they were suspending any further talks due to their "displeasure" at the handling of some "critical issues". Among the reasons the Tigers gave were their exclusion from reconstruction talks in Washington, DC, on 14 April and a more general insinuation that they were not receiving the full economic rewards of peace. They cited the failure, as they saw it, of peace dividends to transfer to security withdrawals on the ground and the disparity, as they saw it, between the relative calm of the government-held northeast and continuing violence in Tiger-held areas. However, the LTTE maintained it was committed to a settlement to the two-decade conflict, but stated that progress had to be made on the ground before the settlement proceeded. On 31 October the LTTE issued its own peace proposal, calling for an
Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA). The ISGA would be fully controlled by the LTTE and would have broad powers in the north and east (see the full text of the proposals) This provoked a strong backlash among the hard-line elements in the south, who accused Prime Minister Wickremasinghe of handing the north and east to the LTTE. Under pressure from within her own party to take action, Kumaratunga declared a state of emergency and took three key government ministries, the Ministry of Mass Media, the Interior Ministry and the crucial Defense Ministry. She then formed an alliance with the JVP, called the
United People's Freedom Alliance, opposed to the ISGA and advocating a harder line on the LTTE, and called for fresh elections. The
elections, held on 8 April 2004, resulted in victory for the
UPFA with
Mahinda Rajapakse appointed as Prime Minister.
Split of the LTTE Meanwhile, in March 2004 there had been a major split between the northern and eastern wings of the LTTE.
Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Col. Karuna, the Eastern commander of the LTTE and one of Prabhakaran's trusted lieutenants, pulled 5,000 eastern cadres out of the LTTE, claiming insufficient resources and power were being given to Tamils of the eastern part of the island. It was the biggest expression of dissension in the history of the LTTE and a clash within the LTTE seemed imminent. After the parliamentary elections, brief fighting south of Trincomalee led to a rapid retreat and capitulation of Karuna's group, their leaders eventually going into hiding including Karuna himself, who was helped to escape by
Seyed Ali Zahir Moulana, a politician from the ruling party. However, the "Karuna faction" maintained a significant presence in the east and continued to launch attacks against the LTTE. The LTTE accused the army of covertly backing the breakaway group, which subsequently formed a political party named the
TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) and hope to contest in future elections. The cease-fire largely held through all this turmoil, with over 3000 infractions by the LTTE and some 300 by the SLA recorded by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) by 2005. The situation was further complicated by allegations that both sides were carrying out covert operations against each other. The government claimed that the LTTE was killing political opponents, recruiting children, importing arms and killing government security and intelligence officers. The rebels accused the government of supporting paramilitary groups against them, especially the Karuna group.
Tsunami and aftermath On 26 December 2004, the
Indian Ocean tsunami struck Sri Lanka, killing more than 35,000 people and leaving many more homeless. A great deal of aid arrived from around the world, but there was immediate disagreement over how it should be distributed to the Tamil regions under LTTE control. By 24 June the government and LTTE agreed on the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS), but it received sharp criticism from the
JVP, who left the government in protest. The legality of P-TOMS was also challenged in the courts. President Kumaratunga eventually had to scrap P-TOMS, which led to widespread criticism that sufficient aid was not reaching the north and east of the country. However, immediately following the tsunami there was a marked decrease in violence in the north. Sri Lankan Foreign Minister
Lakshman Kadirgamar, a Tamil who was highly respected by foreign diplomats and who had been sharply critical of the LTTE, was assassinated at his home on 12 August 2005, allegedly by a LTTE sniper. His assassination led to the marginalisation of the LTTE in the international community, and is generally considered to be the moment when the LTTE lost much of the sympathy in the eyes of foreign nations. The result was silence of the international community when the Sri Lankan government took military action against the LTTE in 2006, when the latter closed the Mavil aru sluice. Further political change occurred when the
Supreme Court of Sri Lanka declared President Kumaratunga's second and final term over and ordered her to hold fresh presidential elections. The main candidates for the
election, which was held in November, were UNF candidate former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, who advocated the reopening of talks with the LTTE, and the UPFA candidate Prime Minister Rajapaksa, who called for a tougher line against the LTTE and a renegotiation of the cease-fire. The LTTE openly called for a
boycott of the election by Tamils. Many of them were expected to vote for Wickremasinghe, and the loss of their votes proved fatal to his chances, as Rajapakse achieved a narrow victory. Following the election, LTTE leader
Velupillai Prabhakaran stated in his annual address that the Tigers would "renew their struggle" in 2006 if the government did not take serious moves toward peace.
Eelam War IV (2006–2009) Beginning in December 2005, there was increased guerrilla activity to the northeast, including
Claymore mine attacks which killed 150 government troops, clashes between the
Sea Tigers and the Sri Lanka navy and the killings of sympathisers on both sides including
Taraki Sivaram, a pro-LTTE journalist, and
Joseph Pararajasingham, a pro-LTTE MP, both killed allegedly by the government of Sri Lanka. At the beginning of 2006 the focus of the civil war turned to civilian targets, with commuter bus and train bombings carried out by LTTE in most parts of the country, including a series of attacks against commuters in and around Colombo.
Talks and Further Violence In light of this violence, the co-chairs of the Tokyo Donor conference called on both parties to return to the negotiating table.
US State Department officials gave warnings to the Tigers, stating that a return to hostilities would mean that the Tigers would face a "more capable and more determined" Sri Lankan military. While the talks were going on there was violence directed towards civilians, such as
the killings of five Tamil students on 2 January 2006. In a last-minute effort to salvage an agreement between the parties, Norwegian special envoy
Erik Solheim and LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham arrived on the island. The parties strongly disagreed on the location of the talks; however, continued efforts produced a breakthrough when both parties agreed on 7 February 2006 that new talks could be held in
Geneva, Switzerland, on 22 and 23 February. During the weeks after the talks there was a significant decrease in violence. However, the LTTE resumed attacks against the military in April. In light of this violence, the LTTE called for a postponement of the Geneva talks until 24–25 April, and the government initially agreed to this. Following negotiations, both the government and the rebels agreed to have a civilian vessel transport regional LTTE leaders with international truce monitors on 16 April, which involved crossing government-controlled territory. However, the climate shifted drastically when the Tigers cancelled the meeting, claiming not to have agreed to a naval escort. According to the SLMM, the Tamil rebels had previously agreed to the escort. On 20 April 2006 the LTTE officially pulled out of peace talks indefinitely. While they stated that transportation issues had prevented them from meeting their regional leaders, some analysts and the international community were strongly skeptical, seeing the transportation issue as a delaying tactic by the LTTE to avoid attending peace talks in Geneva. Violence continued to spiral and on 23 April 2006,
six Sinhalese rice farmers were massacred in their paddy fields by suspected LTTE cadres, and on 13 May 2006
13 Tamil civilians were killed in the
islet of Kayts. International condemnation against the LTTE skyrocketed following the attempted assassination of the commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Lt. Gen.
Sarath Fonseka, by a female LTTE
Black Tiger suicide bomber named Anoja Kugenthirasah, who concealed the explosives by appearing to be pregnant and blew herself up at army headquarters in
Colombo. For the first time since the 2001 cease-fire, the Sri Lanka Air Force carried out aerial assaults on rebel positions in the northeastern part of the island in retaliation for the attack. This attack, along with the assassination of Lakshman Kadiragamar a year earlier and an unsuccessful attack against a naval vessel carrying 710 unarmed security force personnel on holiday, marked a turning point, as the
European Union decided to proscribe the LTTE as a terrorist organisation on 19 May 2006. It resulted in the freezing of LTTE assets in its 27 member nations. In a statement, the
European Parliament said that the LTTE did not represent all the Tamils and called on it to "allow for political pluralism and alternate democratic voices in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka". As the north and east of the country continued to be rocked by attacks, new talks were scheduled in Oslo, Norway, between 8–9 June. Delegations from both sides arrived in Oslo, but the talks were cancelled when the LTTE refused to meet directly with the government delegation, claiming its fighters were not allowed safe passage to travel to the talks. Norwegian mediator Erik Solheim told journalists that the LTTE should take direct responsibility for the collapse of the talks. Further violence followed, including the
Vankalai massacre. The Sri Lankan army and
Tamil Tiger rebels blamed each other for the killings. There was also the
Kebithigollewa massacre in which the LTTE attacked a bus, killing at least 64 Sinhalese civilians and prompting more air strikes by the Air Force, and the assassination of Sri Lanka's third highest-ranking army officer and Deputy Chief of Staff
General Parami Kulatunga on 26 June by an LTTE suicide bomber. These events led the
SLMM to question whether a cease-fire could still be said to exist.
Mavil Aru Water Dispute A new crisis leading to the first large-scale fighting since signing of the cease-fire occurred when the LTTE closed the
sluice gates of the
Mavil Aru reservoir on 21 July. Mavil Aru was the waterway that provided water to some regions of eastern Sri Lanka, like
Trincomalee. After the cease-fire in 2002, the conflict over Mavil Aru was one of the biggest military confrontations between the
Sri Lanka Armed Forces and the LTTE. Its relevance is for geo-strategic reasons: within the Mavil Aru area, Sinhala, Muslim and Tamil populations live side by side. It is also the entrance to Koddiyar Bay, the inlet for Trincomalee port and naval base, so the LTTE presence in the area seriously threatened the Sri Lankan security forces' presence and domination. Closure of Mavil Aru affected the water supply to 15,000 families in government-controlled areas. After the initial negotiations and efforts by the SLMM to open the gates failed, the Sri Lanka military initiated an operation to achieve the re-opening of the sluice gates. President Rajapaksa said that the supply of water was a non-negotiable fundamental human right. Additionally, a government spokesman said that "
utilities could not be used as bargaining tools" by the rebels. Eventually, following heavy fighting, government troops gained full control of the Mavil Aru reservoir on 15 August. The consequences of the "Operation Watershed" were about 150 civilians killed and more than 50,000 refugees from
Mutur and the villages nearby. It was the precedent of the
Eelam War IV.
LTTE Offenses in Muttur and Jaffna As fierce fighting was ongoing in the vicinity of Mavil Aru, violence spread to Trincomalee, where the LTTE launched an attack on a crucial Sri Lanka Navy base, and to the strategic government-controlled coastal town of Muttur in early August, resulting in the deaths of at least 30 civilians and displacing 25,000 residents of the area. The clashes erupted on 2 August 2006 when the LTTE launched a heavy artillery attack on Muttur and then moved in, gaining control of some parts of the town. The military retaliated, and re-established full control over the town by 5 August, killing over 150 LTTE fighters in heavy clashes. The SLMM claimed that the government was behind the attack, but the government denied the allegation calling it "pathetic and biased", and stated that the SLMM had "no right to make such a statement because they are not professionals in autopsy or post-mortem." Meanwhile, in the north of the country, some of the bloodiest fighting since 2001 took place after the LTTE launched massive attacks on
Sri Lanka Army defence lines on the Jaffna Peninsula on 11 August. The LTTE used a force of 400–500 fighters in the attacks, which consisted of land and amphibious assaults, and also fired a barrage of artillery at government positions, including the key military airbase at
Palaly. The LTTE is estimated to have lost over 200 fighters in the operation, while 90 Sri Lankan soldiers and sailors were also killed. As ground battles were ongoing in the north and the east of the country, the Sri Lanka Air Force carried out an air strike against a facility in the rebel-held Mullaitivu area,
killing a number of Tamil girls. Although the LTTE claimed 61 girls were killed, the SLMM stated they were able to count just 19 bodies. The government stated that it was an LTTE training facility and that the children were LTTE child soldiers, although the LTTE claimed the victims were schoolgirls attending a course on first aid at an orphanage. On the same day a convoy carrying the Pakistani
High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bashir Wali Mohamed, was
attacked when a
claymore antipersonnel mine concealed within an
auto rickshaw blew up as it passed by. The High Commissioner escaped unhurt, but seven people were killed and 17 injured in the blast. The High Commissioner claimed that India was believed to have carried it out, in order to intimidate Pakistan, which is one of the main suppliers of military equipment to the Sri Lankan government. Sri Lanka Navy base in Trincomalee was under severe threat from LTTE gun positions located in and around Sampur, which lies across the Koddiyar Bay from Trincomalee. Artillery fired from LTTE bases in the area could potentially cripple the naval base, bringing it to a complete standstill and cutting the only military supply chain to Jaffna. All movements of naval vessels were also under the constant surveillance of the LTTE. These fears were backed up by a US military advisory team which visited the island in 2005. Following clashes in Mavil Aru and Muttur, the LTTE had intensified attacks targeting the naval base in Trincomalee, as the LTTE admitted defeat and stated their fighters "withdrew" from the strategically important town. It marked the first significant territorial change of hands since the signing of the cease-fire agreement in 2002. The Sri Lankan military estimated that 33 of its personnel were killed in the offensive, along with over 200 LTTE fighters.
LTTE Retaliation and Further Peace Talks The LTTE struck back in October. First, they killed nearly 130 soldiers in a fierce battle at Muhamalai, the crossing-point between government- and LTTE-controlled area in the north of the country. Just days later, a suspected LTTE suicide bomber
struck a naval convoy in Habarana, in the center of the country, killing about 100 sailors who were returning home on leave. It was the deadliest suicide attack in the history of the conflict. Two days later LTTE Sea Tiger forces launched an attack against the
Dakshina naval base in the southern port city of
Galle. It was the farthest south any major LTTE attack had taken place, and involved 15 LTTE fighters who arrived in five suicide boats. The attack was repulsed by the government, and the damage to the naval base was minimal. All 15 LTTE fighters were believed to have died in the attack, along with one Navy sailor. Despite these incidents, both parties agreed to unconditionally attend peace talks in Geneva on 28–29 October. However, the peace talks broke down due to disagreements over the reopening of the key A9 highway, which is the link between Jaffna and government-controlled areas in the south. While the LTTE wanted the highway, which was closed following fierce battles in August, to be reopened, the government refused, stating the LTTE would use it to collect taxes from people passing through and would use it to launch further offensives against government troops. Following the dawn of the new year, suspected
LTTE fighters carried out two bus bombings in the south of the country, killing 21 civilians. News reports stated that the attacks bore all the hallmarks of an LTTE attack. The Sri Lankan government condemned the attacks and blamed the LTTE for carrying them out, although the LTTE denied any involvement.
Government Offensive in the East In December 2006 Sri Lankan government officials announced their plans to drive the LTTE out of the
Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, and then use the full strength of the military to defeat the LTTE in the north of the country. The government stated that LTTE was firing artillery towards civilian settlements in the east and were using 35,000 people as human shields. These claims were later backed up by civilians in the area, who told reporters that they were held by force by the Tamil Tigers. On 7 November 2006, amidst conflicting claims, over 45 Tamil civilians were killed in what is known as the
Vaharai bombing. Subsequently, the army began an offensive against the LTTE on 8 December 2006, in the Batticoloa District with the objective of taking
Vakarai, the principal stronghold of the LTTE in the east; the operation was temporarily aborted after a week of fighting due to the large number of civilians in the area and the difficulty in conducting combat operations due to the ongoing
monsoon rain. Over the next few weeks an estimated 20,000 civilians fled from to government-controlled areas, fearing the imminent assault. The army launched a new offensive in mid-January, and Vakarai fell to the advancing troops on 19 January. While the offensive in the East was ongoing, the LTTE and others accused the government of murdering 15 civilians in the
Padahuthurai bombing on 2 January, when the air force bombed what they claimed to be an
LTTE naval base in Illuppaikadavai in northern Sri Lanka. The loss of Vakarai had been predicted to cut off supply routes of the northern Tigers to their cadres in the east, thus weakening the Tigers' already diminishing grip on the east. As the military offensive was ongoing, the LTTE continued to carry out attacks against civilians in government-held territory. On 1 April 2007 the military accused the LTTE of killing six Sinhalese tsunami aid workers in the eastern district of Batticaloa. The next day suspected LTTE fighters set off a bomb aboard a civilian bus in Ampara, which killed 17 people, including three children. Troops mostly operating in small groups of Special Forces and Commando units began a new operation in February and the strategic
A5 highway on 12 April, bringing the entire highway under government control for the first time in 15 years. This meant the LTTE's presence in the east was reduced to a 140-square-kilometre pocket of jungle in the Thoppigala area northwest of Batticaloa. After the three-month-long
Battle of Thoppigala, the army captured the Thoppigala peak on 11 July 2007, ending the LTTE's military capability in the Eastern Province and concluding Eelam War IV in the Eastern theatre.
Government offensive in the North Sporadic fighting in the North had been going on for months, but the intensity of the clashes increased after September 2007. During clashes in the Forward Defence Lines, separating their forces, both sides exchanged heavy artillery fire, after which military incursions followed. By December 2007, the LTTE defences at Uyilankulama, Parappakandal and Thampanai were lost to advancing troops of the Sri Lanka Army. In an interview with the
Sunday Observer the Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said that the Army had occupied the LTTE's Forward Defence Lines and surrounded the Wanni LTTE bases from all directions. He also said that there were around 3,000 Tigers remaining and that the military intended to annihilate them within the first six months of the next year. A day later there were less optimistic statements by Army, Air Force and Navy Commanders. The Army was to face an estimated 5,000 Tiger cadres in the Wanni. The Commander of the Army intended to shift the current battles in the Forward Defence Lines to a decisive phase in August 2008. In the Commanders' view, it was quite possible to defeat the LTTE in 2008. The
military of Sri Lanka claimed that the leader of the LTTE,
Velupillai Prabhakaran, was seriously injured during air strikes carried out by the
Sri Lanka Air Force on a bunker complex in Jayanthinagar on 26 November 2007. Earlier, on 2 November 2007,
S. P. Thamilselvan, the head of the LTTE political wing, was killed during another government air raid. The Sri Lanka Air Force openly vowed to destroy the entire leadership of the LTTE.
Abrogation of Ceasefire Agreement Defence secretary
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa urged the government to abandon the ceasefire agreement in December 2007, and on 2 January 2008, the Sri Lankan government officially did so. Between February 2002 to May 2007,
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission had documented 3,830 ceasefire violations by the LTTE versus 351 by the security forces. The LTTE formally responded that since the government had unilaterally withdrawn from the ceasefire agreement without any justification and that they were prepared to continue to honour the agreement, the international community ought to immediately remove the bans it had placed on the LTTE. The government then attempted to open a third front along the
Muhamalai Forward Defence Line. After an initial setback on 23 April, the Sri Lankan Army advanced rapidly, capturing the town of Adampan on 9 May, Mannar "Rice Bowl" which consists of the island's most fertile paddy fields on 30 June,
Vidattaltivu on 16 July, and Iluppaikkadavai on 20 July. On 21 July 2008, the LTTE announced that it would be declaring a unilateral ceasefire from 28 July to 4 August, to coincide with the 15th summit of the heads of state of
SAARC to be held in Colombo. However, the government of Sri Lanka dismissed the LTTE's offer as needless and treacherous.
Significant Military Gains by the Government On 2 August 2008, Vellankulam town, the LTTE's last stronghold in
Mannar District, fell to the advancing SLA troops, completing the eight-month effort to recapture the district. The Army followed this up by taking control of
Mallavi on 2 September, following weeks of heavy military confrontation. The LTTE countered with a surprise attack on the
Vavuniya air base on 9 September, in which both sides claimed victory. From Mannar, the Army had entered
Kilinochchi District, the last stronghold of the LTTE, at the end of July, with the intention of taking
Kilinochchi before the end of the year. On 3 October 2008, a UN aid convoy managed to unload all its cargo in Kilinochchi District and described Kilinochchi town as having been nearly abandoned, but the LTTE were able to kill retired Major General
Janaka Perera along with 26 other victims in a suicide blast on 6 October. On 17 October 2008, SLA troops cut off the
Mannar-Poonaryn A32 highway north of Nachchikuda, the main remaining
Sea Tiger stronghold on the northwestern coast of the island, thus effectively encircling it. They began their assault on 28 October and captured it the next day. After that the Army Task Force 1 continued their advance towards Pooneryn and captured Kiranchchi, Palavi, Veravil, Valaipadu and Devil's Point. On 15 November 2008, troops of the Army Task Force 1 entered the strategically important Tiger stronghold of
Pooneryn. Simultaneously, the newly created Army Task Force 3 was introduced into the area of
Mankulam with the objective of engaging the LTTE cadres in a new battlefront towards the east of the
Jaffna–Kandy A9 highway. SLA troops captured
Mankulam and the surrounding area on 17 November 2008. Meanwhile, the situation of more than 200,000 civilians who had been displaced in the latest round of fighting was turning into a humanitarian disaster; however, due to a number of reasons including doubts regarding the sincerity of the LTTE's negotiations, neither Western governments nor India intervened to broker a new ceasefire.
Fall of Kilinochchi and Subsequent Events The Sri Lankan Army began the attack on Kilinochchi on 23 November 2008. Troops were attacking rebels' defences from three directions. However, the LTTE offered a stiff resistance, and the prolonged attack resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. depicting civilians being displaced as a result of the Sri Lanka Army's military offensive. January 2009. Not until 1 January 2009 were SLA troops able to capture
Paranthan, located to the north of Kilinochchi along the A-9 route. This isolated the southern periphery of the
Elephant Pass LTTE foothold and also exposed the LTTE's main fortification at Kilinochchi. This made the capture of Kilinochchi, which the rebels had used for over a decade as their de facto administrative capital, far simpler, and they were able to accomplish this on 2 January. The loss of Killinochchi caused a substantial dent in the LTTE's image as a capable, ruthless rebel group, and observers forecast the LTTE was likely to collapse before long under unbearable military pressure on multiple fronts. The Tigers quickly abandoned their positions on the Jaffna peninsula to make a last stand in the jungles of
Mullaitivu, their last main base. The entire Jaffna peninsula was captured by the Sri Lanka Army by 14 January 2009. However, they were unable to hold out for long, and on 25 January, SLA troops captured Mullaitivu. The last Sea Tiger base in Chalai was next to fall on 5 February, reducing the territory under rebel control to less than some 200 km2. This stage of the war was marked by increased brutality against civilians and rapidly mounting civilian casualties. On 19 February 2009,
Human Rights Watch issued a report accusing the Sri Lankan army of "slaughtering" the civilians during indiscriminate artillery attacks (including repeated shelling of hospitals) and calling on the Sri Lankan government to end its policy of "detaining displaced persons" in military-controlled internment camps. Human Rights Watch also urged the Tamil Tigers to permit trapped civilians to leave the war zone and to "stop shooting at those who try to flee". The UN was also concerned over the condition of internally displaced persons and estimated that some 200,000 people were being squeezed into a narrow 14 square kilometre patch of land on the coast in Vanni, which the government had declared the 'no-fire zone'. On 20 February 2009, two LTTE planes on
a suicide mission carried out a
kamikaze style air attack on the Sri Lankan commercial capital
Colombo, killing 2 and wounding 45, but both planes were shot down by the
Sri Lankan Air Force before they could damage the intended targets which were the Army Headquarters and the main Air Force base. By late March, the Tamil Tigers controlled only one square kilometre outside the no-fire zone, down from about 15,000 km2 a mere three years earlier. Political pressure was placed on President Rajapaksa to find a political solution to the conflict and he called for a meeting with
Tamil National Alliance, but they refused until the government resolved the humanitarian crisis faced by civilians trapped in the fighting. The
Battle of Aanandapuram, which was described by military analyst/journalist D. B. S. Jeyaraj as the "defining moment" of the 3 decade war, was fought on 5 April. This battle saw the demise of most of the battle-hardened ground commanders of the LTTE, including Velayuthapillai Baheerathakumar
alias Theepan, the overall commander of the LTTE northern front fighting formations. SLA soldiers numbering more than 50,000 from 5 divisions participated in the battle encircling the LTTE cadres inside a small littoral strip of territory located between the
Paranthan-Mullaitivu A35 highway,
Nanthikadal and
Chalai Lagoons on one side and the Indian Ocean on the other. Rebel casualties amounted to 625.
Fighting in the 'No-Fire Zone' SLA troops were able to push the Tamil Tigers into the no-fire zone set up for civilians. The LTTE then built a long
bund in the no-fire zone, trapping over 30,000 civilians, but the SLA was able to destroy this. On 21 April, Sri Lankan troops launched an assault, targeting LTTE leader,
Vellupillai Prabhakaran. At the same time, a mass Tamil exodus from the 'no-fire zone' was underway. The next day, two senior LTTE members (LTTE media co-ordinator Velayuthan Thayanithi,
alias Daya Master, and a top interpreter Kumar Pancharathnam,
alias George) surrendered to the advancing Sri Lankan army. This came as "a rude shock" and a major setback for the rebel leadership. When asked why they had surrendered, both men stressed that rebels were shooting at the civilians and preventing them from escaping from the 'no-fire zone' to safety in government-controlled areas. They also alleged that the LTTE were still abducting and conscripting children as young as 14 years old, and would fire at anyone who tried to resist. By 25 April, the area under the LTTE was reduced to 10 km2. While the Tamil exodus from the 'no-fire zone' continued, the UN estimated that around 6,500 civilians may have been killed and another 14,000 wounded between January 2009 and April 2009. The BBC reported that the land recaptured by the army from the rebels was totally depopulated and utterly devastated. As fighting continued, a group of independent United Nations experts called on the
Human Rights Council to urgently set up an international inquiry to address the "critical" situation in Sri Lanka amid fighting between the Army and Tamil rebels. According to the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (
OCHA), over 196,000 people fled the conflict zone, a shrinking pocket of land on the north-east coastline, where clashes continued between government troops and the LTTE, while at least 50,000 people were still trapped there. A UN spokesman in Colombo, Gordon Weiss, said more than 100 children died during the "large-scale killing of civilians" and described the situation in northern Sri Lanka as a "bloodbath". UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon said he was appalled at the killing of hundreds of Sri Lankan civilians caught in the middle of hostilities between the army and separatist Tamil rebels over the weekend. He voiced deep concern over the continued use of heavy weapons in the conflict zone, but also stressed that the "reckless disrespect shown by the LTTE for the safety of civilians has led to thousands of people remaining trapped in the area". On 13 May, the
UN Security Council issued the following press statement, "The members of the Security Council strongly condemn the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for its acts of terrorism over many years, and for its continued use of civilians as human shields, and acknowledge the legitimate right of the Government of Sri Lanka to combat terrorism. The members of the Security Council demand that the LTTE lay down its arms and allow the tens of thousands of civilians still in the conflict zone to leave. The members of the Security Council express deep concern at the reports of continued use of heavy calibre weapons in areas with high concentrations of civilians, and expect the Government of Sri Lanka to fulfil its commitment in this regard." On 16 May 2009, Sri Lankan troops broke through LTTE defences and captured the last section of coastline held by Tamil Tiger rebels. The army reported it was set to "clear" remaining rebel-held land within days. Later the military claimed, citing allegedly intercepted LTTE communications, that rebels were preparing for a
mass suicide after being effectively cut off from escape routes. Some rebels were reported to have blown themselves up. ==End of the war==