Civil War Breaks Out Tamil Tigers in Srilanka

Biafran War-Tamil Tigers now Run:

In 2006, repeated violations of the ceasefire in 2002 on both sides turned into outright war. Since April 2006, about 1,000 soldiers and civilians have been killed and 135,000, mostly Tamils, have been displaced. Efforts by Norway to broker the 2002 ceasefire, to bring both sides to the negotiating table, not all summer.

Fighting between rebels and government forces continued in 2007. After a week of deadly battles, the military took control of rebel-held regions of eastern Sri Lanka in March, while tens of thousands more civilians displaced. In April Tamil Tigers launched their first air raid, using small airplanes to bomb an Air Force Base, near Colombo. An attack from the Sri Lankan Air Force in November killed the head of the Tigers' political wing, SP Tamilselvan. Amid continued fighting, the government repealed the ceasefire in January 2008.

Sri Lanka was rocked by a series of suicide bombings before and during the country's celebration of its 60th anniversary of independence in February. Nearly 40 people died in the attacks. April was a particularly bloody month in Sri Lanka. Actually highways minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle killed in a bombing attributed to Tamil Tiger rebels. Later this month, died more than 40 soldiers and 100 Tamil Tiger rebels in a battle in the Jaffna peninsula.

The conflict between Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers reached a crucial point in autumn, when the military launched airstrikes on Tamil headquarters in early October in Kilinochi. Moreover, moving troops closer to the rebels. In January 2009 the Sri Lankan government captured the northern town of Kilinochchi, which in ten years had been the administrative headquarters of the Tamil Tigers.

Under the leadership of Defense Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, brother of the president, the Sri Lankan army continued to pursue relentlessly Tigers in early 2009. In April Tigers edges of a small stretch of coastline in the northeastern part of the country. Tamil civilians streamed out of area in refugee camps, struggling to get food and medical care, while Tiger fighting force was down to as few as 1000 members.

In early May 2009, a UN spokesman called the situation on the beach a "bloodbath".International Human Rights organizations claimed that the Sri Lankan army killed at least 500 Tamil civilians in the early days of May 2009 alone. It brings the Tamil civilian deaths to at least 8000 since the early years, according to the UN. According to his own count, the Sri Lankan army lost at least 3,800 soldiers during the 18-month offensive.

On May 18, 2009 conflict effectively ended when Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers were killed. The Sri Lankan government now faces the challenge to unite a nation deeply divided along ethnic lines.