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Timeline

Timeline

ASIA'S LONGEST MODERN WAR

1948 - Independence from Britain1956 - Sinhala Act makes Sinhala the sole official language, restricting employment opportunities for Tamils
1976 - Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) founded
1983 - Riots and clashes between Sinhalese and Tamils leave thousands of Tamils dead and several hundred thousand as refugees. Large number of government forces deployed in the north and east
1985 - Talks to find a political solution to the conflict fail and conflict intensifies
July 1987 - India and Sri Lanka sign accord creating regional councils to give Tamils in the northeast limited autonomy. Indian troops arrive to enforce the pact which is endorsed by Tamil rebel groups
Oct 1987 - LTTE reneges on the accord and begins three years of battles that kill more than 1,000 Indian troops
Dec 1988 - Ranasinghe Premadasa is elected president after promising to send Indian troops home and begin talks with LTTE
Jun 1990 - Talks fail as LTTE overruns police stations in east
May 1991 - Suspected female Tiger suicide bomber kills Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
May 1993 - Premadasa killed by suicide bomber
Jan 1995 - Government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and rebels agree to stop fighting and talk
Apr 1995 - Truce ends when rebels blow up two navy vessels
Jan 1996 - Tiger suicide bombers blow up central bank building. More than 100 killed and about 1,400 hurt
Oct 1997 - U.S. declares LTTE a terrorist group. LTTE bombs World Trade Centre in Colombo, killing 15
Jan 1998 - Sri Lanka outlaws the LTTE after suicide attack on country's holiest Buddhist shrine, “the Temple of the Tooth” in Kandy
Dec 1999 - Kumaratunga survives LTTE suicide bomb attack, loses one eye, spurring a sympathy vote analysts say helped her win re-election
May 2000 - Norway's special envoy for peace, Erik Solheim, begins talks with Sri Lankan leaders
2001 - Attack on the international airport in Colombo destroys civilian and military aircraft
Feb 2002 - Government and LTTE sign Norwegian-brokered ceasefire, laying groundwork for direct peace talks
Dec 2002 - Tigers give up demand for a separate state and agree to work with government towards devolution of power
Apr 2003 - Tigers pull out after six rounds of talks, saying not enough being done to rebuild war-hit Tamil areas
Dec 2004 - Indian Ocean tsunami kills at least 35,000 people in Sri Lanka, affecting both Tamil and Sinhalese areas
Aug 2005 - Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar assassinated by suspected rebel snipers
Nov 2005 - Former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa elected president after Tigers boycott polls
Dec 2005 - Mine attacks by suspected Tigers kill 39 soldiers

2006

Jan - Violence escalates in the north and east, raising fears of a return to civil war
Feb - Tigers and government agree to respect 2002 ceasefire
Apr - Major upsurge in violence. Government launches air strikes against Tamil targets after suicide bomber injures army chief and kills nine civilians in Colombo
May - Tigers attack a naval convoy - the worst military confrontation since the truce
Jun - Rebels demand withdrawal of peace monitors from EU countries after they list Tamil Tigers as terrorists. Mine attack on a bus kills more than 60 civilians
Jul - Army advances on rebel territory for the first time since ceasefire. Rebels say war is back on
Aug - Seventeen aid workers massacred in the east. Suspected Tiger suicide bomber attacks a Pakistan High Commission convoy in Colombo
Oct - Suicide bombing on a convoy kills 100 sailors and civilians. Planned peace talks in Geneva come unstuck over rebel demand that the government reopen a highway that crosses through rebel territory to the army-held Jaffna peninsula. Heavy fighting resumes
Nov 10 - Prominent MP from rebel-endorsed Tamil National Alliance shot dead in Colombo. Fighting escalates as rebels accuse army of entering no-mans land in Batticaloa district with tanks and armoured vehicles. Military denies this. Tigers declare they see no other option than to fight for full independence
Dec - President's brother Gothabaya Rajapaksa, who is also defence secretary, narrowly escapes suicide bombing in Colombo
Government reimposes Prevention of Terrorism Act, aimed at cracking down on the Tigers

2007

Jan - Military captures strategic Tiger-held eastern town of Vakarai. UNHCR estimates 213,000 people displaced since April 2006
Mar - Tiger light aircraft bombs air force base next to Colombo international airport, the first such air strike by the rebels
Jul - Government declares it has driven rebels from their last jungle stronghold in east
Oct - Tiger suicide fighters mount major ground assault on north-central airbase
Nov - Tamil Tiger political wing leader S.P Thamilselvan killed in air force bombing. Ex rebel Karuna Amman detained in Britain

2008

Jan - Government declares truce dead
Opposition parliamentarian T. Maheshweran shot dead in Colombo, Nation Building Minister D.M. Dassanayake killed by roadside bomb blamed on Tigers
Jul - Karuna returns to Sri Lanka after serving jail sentence in Britain for passport fraud
Oct - Karuna sworn in as member of parliament
Nov - Military seizes west

2009

Jan - Military captures Tigers' de facto capital Kilinochchi in the north
Apr - Military says it has confined the rebels to a zone in the northeast measuring 17 sq km. Sri Lanka gives rebels 24 hours to surrender as civilians flee battle zone
May 14 - U.S. President Barack Obama urges both sides to avert a humanitarian crisis. U.N. Security Council voices grave concern over civilian deaths. War zone now measures 2.5 sq km
May 18 - Sri Lanka declares victory. State TV says Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran killed by special forces troops while trying to escape

Source: Reuters Alertnet

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Timeline

ASIA'S LONGEST MODERN WAR

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