Sri Lanka declared a final victory Monday in its decades-old conflict with the Tamil Tigers, after routing the remnants of the rebel army and killing its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Here are the key dates from what was one of Asia's longest-running and bloodiest ethnic conflicts.
1972:
Armed with just a revolver, Velupillai Prabhakaran forms a Tamil militant group that eventually becomes the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
July 23, 1983:
LTTE ambushes an army patrol, killing 13 soldiers in the Jaffna peninsula and sparking anti-Tamil riots elsewhere that leave about 600 people dead
July 8, 1985:
Sri Lanka opens first direct talks with Tamil guerrillas. They fail.
July 29, 1987:
India and Sri Lanka reach agreement on deployment of Indian peacekeeping force
March 24, 1990:
India loses 1,200 troops at the hands of the LTTE, and withdraws to leave the Tigers in control of large swathes of northern Sri Lanka
May 21, 1991:
Former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi killed, allegedly by an LTTE suicide bomber
May 1, 1993:
Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa killed by LTTE suicide bomber
December 2, 1995:
Sri Lankan army captures the Jaffna peninsula
July 18, 1996:
The Tigers overrun an army camp in the northeastern town of Mullaittivu, killing 1,200 troops
October 8, 1997:
The United States declares the LTTE a foreign terrorist organisation
January 25, 1998:
An LTTE suicide bomb devastates Sri Lanka's holiest Buddhist shrine, the Temple of the Tooth, killing 17 people
September 26, 1998:
Tigers overrun Kilinochchi army camp, killing more than 1,000 government soldiers
February 2001:
Britain outlaws the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, followed by Canada and Australia
July 2001:
Suicide attack by Tamil Tigers on the international airport kills 14
February 23, 2002:
Government and Tamil Tiger rebels sign a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement
December 2002:
At peace talks in Norway, the government and rebels agree to share power, with the minority Tamils enjoying autonomy in the mainly Tamil-speaking north and east
March 3, 2004:
Renegade Tamil Tiger commander V. Muralitharan, known as Karuna, leads a damaging split from main rebel movement
January 2, 2008:
Sri Lanka withdraws from the ceasefire agreement and steps up attacks against the Tigers
January 2, 2009:
Sri Lankan forces capture Kilinochchi, leaving the Tigers only the jungle district of Mullaittivu
January 25, 2009:
Sri Lankan troops capture Mullaittivu town, confining the rebels to a stretch of jungle
February 3, 2009:
The Sri Lankan army says it has captured an elaborate underground bunker complex believed to have been the home of the leader of the Tamil Tigers, as well as the rebels' last jungle airstrip
March 13, 2009:
The United Nations human rights chief says both sides in the conflict could be guilty of war crimes
April 14, 2009:
The Tamil Tigers say they are ready to negotiate a ceasefire and restart peace talks. The government refuses and tells them to surrender
April 20, 2009:
Tens of thousands of trapped civilians manage to flee from the shrinking area under rebel control
May 13, 2009:
The UN Security Council for the first time asks warring parties to spare civilians as the world body describes fighting in the last remaining patch of Tiger territory as a "bloodbath" for civilians
May 16, 2009:
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse says the rebels have been militarily defeated
May 17, 2009:
In an admission of defeat, the Tamil Tigers say their battle "has reached its bitter end" and that they have "decided to silence our guns"
May 18, 2009:
Defence officials say Prabhakaran and his two deputies are shot dead while trying to flee advancing troops.
Army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka declares an end to military operations after troops overrun final LTTE holdout, leaving the entire island under government control.
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