Eelam War I
The war started on July 23, 1983 between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Army. This was called Eelam War I, because this is the first part of the Sri Lankan Civil War. Even though there were large tensions between the Tamils and the Sinhalese, they say the war only started when the LTTE attacked a section of the Sri Lankan Army who were on patrol duty. This attack killed 13 soldiers, and this is said to be the start of the Sri Lankan Civil War. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had committed many murders and cruel acts to innocent Sinhalese people. One incident included Anuradhapura massacre. On May 14, 1985, the LTTE had killed 146 Sinhalese men, women, and children.In 1987, the Sri Lankan Army had cornered the LTTE at the tip of the island and were about to bring it to an end; however, due to the concern of the 50 million Tamils from India, the Indian government stopped them. They then had signed a peace accord (which was between the Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene and Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi) stating that the Indian Army would come to Sri Lankan as the Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) to keep peace between the two ethnic groups and that the LTTE would have to surrender (which initially they did).
Eelam War II
This part of the war was started by the LTTE on June 10, 1990. The separatists had massacred almost 600 Sinhalese and Muslim police officers who had orders from the Sri Lankan government to force the LTTE to surrender. The peace accord collapsed when the LTTE had attacked the IPKF. This phase of the war lasted for about five years. There had been many massacres and deaths during this period of time, and one event includes the Palliyagodella massacre. But this wasn't the massacre of Sinhalese; it was the deaths of 109 Muslim men, women, and children. The villagers of Palliyagodella asked the military for protection. The Sri Lankan government forces had issued shotguns to the villagers, but these were not enough to beat the LTTE attacks. This incident occurred in October 1991. Eelam War II had an indecisive result and ended in 1995.
Eelam War III
Eelam War III is the third part of the Sri Lankan Civil War, and it became on April 19, 1995, when the LTTE-Sea Tigers (the military force out on the sea) planted explosives in two gun boats of the Sri Lankan military. "Stinger," a new weapon of the LTTE, is also used in this phase of the war. It is a shoulder launched anti-aircraft missile, which took down two Sri Lankan Air Force AVRO aircrafts flying over the Jaffna peninsula in the north part of the country. Eelam War III had lasted for about 7 years, from 1995 to 2002. The LTTE had lost control over the Jaffna peninsula to the Sri Lankan government, and so they got a comeback on July 18, 1996. The LTTE had attacked the Sri Lankan Army in Mullaitivu for the control of the town. The separatists had attacked at 1:30 A.M. and the battle continued for a week, ending on July 25. The victory went to the Tamil Tigers, with 332 killed out 4000. The Sri Lankan Army had 1407 soldiers on their side, but lost 1242 and 207 executed. There have been other massacres as well in the towns of Kallawara and Gonogala by the LTTE. By then, the LTTE was thought to be a terrorist group by the United States, United Kingdom, India, and the European Union. The third part of the war came to an end when the Sri Lankan government and LTTE came to a ceasefire: the Tamils could have their own free independent country.
Eelam War IV
All was well between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government until 2006. That was when a new party came into power, and said that the Tamils could not have their own land. The fighting started all over again. On July 26, 2006, the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed several LTTE camps. The last part of the war lasts for 2 years, 9 months, 3 weeks, and 1 day. It ended on May 18, 2009, with a lot of deaths and tragedies. The leader of the LTTE, Prabhakaran, was killed on May 16, and two days later, it was confirmed that he had died and that the LTTE had lost their fight. The LTTE had been completely wiped out, resulting in the Sri Lankan government winning the war after 25 years, 9 months, 3 weeks, and 4 days.