People / group

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

1976–2009 · 20th century · Also known as LTTE, Tamil Tigers

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were a Tamil separatist militant organisation in Sri Lanka, founded in 1976 by Velupillai Prabhakaran to create an independent Tamil state, Tamil Eelam, in the north and east. During the civil war from 1983 they controlled large areas, ran a de facto administration and used suicide bombings and child soldiers. The Sri Lankan army defeated them in May 2009, when Prabhakaran was killed.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Image: Tyiqnqnenq · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 1 state history

Sri Lanka

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/liberation-tigers-of-tamil-eelam
MLA
“Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/liberation-tigers-of-tamil-eelam. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/liberation-tigers-of-tamil-eelam.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/liberation-tigers-of-tamil-eelam (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻