The LTTE began its armed conflict with the Sri Lankan Government in 1983 and relied on a guerrilla strategy that included the use of terrorist tactics. Founded in 1976, the LTTE was the most powerful Tamil group in Sri Lanka and used overt and illegal methods to raise funds, acquire weapons, and publicize its cause of establishing an independent Tamil state.

The Tamil people call their nation 'Tamil Eelam'. They form a social entity, with their own history, traditions, culture, language and traditional homeland. The Tamil people of the island of Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) constitute a distinct nation.

Most of Sri Lanka's Tamils are Hindus with a significant number of Christians. The Tamil Tigers have fought a civil war for a quarter century in hopes of establishing an independent ethnic homeland on the Sinhalese-dominated island. The rebels said they want wide-ranging autonomy for Tamil-dominated areas under their control in the north and the east. Tamil rebels began an armed uprising in 1983, after they complained of discrimination against the minority Tamil community. 'The figure I have here is since 20th of April, 179,000 hostages have been rescued.' Now the biggest hostage rescue operation in the world has come to a conclusion,' Samarasinghe. The country's disaster-relief and human-rights minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, spoke to reporters in the capital. Sri Lanka's government congratulated itself on a job well done, defeating terrorism and rescuing all civilians from its clutches. The island nation's military said it had defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, ending a long civil war, and had rescued nearly 200,000 trapped civilians. On Sri Lanka's rebels announced they would be laying down their guns to prevent what they call further unnecessary slaughter of Tamil civilians by government troops. Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils (FACT)

The liberation tigers of tamil eelam