The government forces of Sri Lanka were involved in an armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE ) , a militant organisation which fought to create an independent Tamil in the north and eastern provinces of the island . Beginning from 1983 , the war has lasted nearly three decades and was one of the longest-running civil wars in Asia . After a 26-year long military campaign , the Sri Lankan military defeated the Tamil Tigers in May 2009 , bringing the civil war to an end . There are widespread allegations that the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE committed numerous atrocities and human rights violations , including war crimes , during the civil war . 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 . The report also found that the Sri Lankan military/government shelled hospitals and humanitarian objects ; denied humanitarian assistance ; violated the human rights of civilians and LTTE combatants ; and it violated the human rights of those outside the conflict zone such as the media . The report concluded that the " conduct of the war represented a grave assault on the entire regime of international law designed to protect individual dignity during both war and peace " . During the final phases of the war , the LTTE used Tamil civilians as Human shields to protect fleeing cadres , which accounted for dramatic increase of casualties in the last months of the conflict . The LTTE is also accused for attacking the Tamil civilians who fled their diminishing control areas during the final phases of the war . 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
Terrorism in Sri Lanka