Between 1983 and 2009 Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE ) fought against the Sri Lankan state to create an independent state of Tamil Eelam in the north and east of Sri Lanka . By 2007 the civil war had cost an estimated 70,000 lives . The final months of the civil war in late 2008/early 2009 witnessed particularly brutal fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE . Around 300,000 civilians were trapped between the two sides . The civil war ended on 18 May 2009 with the killing of Velupillai Prabhakaran , leader of the LTTE . A United Nations report found that as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months of the civil war , mostly as a result of indiscriminate shelling by the Sri Lankan military . There are widespread allegations that both sides committed atrocities and human rights violations including war crimes . The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is currently investigating the alleged war crimes
war crimes
Alleged war crimes during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War
Mullivaikkal Remembrance Day