Sri Lankan civil war

Historical eventOctober 111987

Sri Lankan civil war

Sri Lankan Civil War: The Indian Peace Keeping Force began Operation Pawan to take control of Jaffna from the Tamil Tigers and enforce their disarmament as a part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.

In context

When
Sunday, October 11 198739 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
20th century · 1980s
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: From 1987.

What happened

The Sri Lankan civil war was fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, it was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by Velupillai Prabhakaran. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island in response to continuous discrimination and violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the predominantly Sinhalese government of Sri Lanka.

October 11 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 1987Second National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights
  2. 1987NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt
  3. 1987Operation Pawan
  4. 1987Sri Lankan civil war
  5. 1991Anita Hill
  6. 1999Air Botswana
  7. 2000STS-92
  8. 2001Polaroid Corporation
  9. 2002Myyrmanni bombing
  10. 20132013 Lampedusa migrant shipwreck
  11. 2018Soyuz MS-10

Also in 1987

  • May 11Klaus BarbieKlaus Barbie goes on trial in Lyon for war crimes committed during World War II.
  • September 13Goiânia accidentGoiânia accident: A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the followin…
  • September 16Montreal ProtocolThe Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion.
  • October 22John Adams (composer)John Adams' (pictured) opera Nixon in China premiered.
  • January 3Varig Flight 797Varig Flight 797 crashes near Akouré in the Ivory Coast, resulting in 50 deaths.
  • September 3Jean-Baptiste BagazaWhile he was abroad, Burundian president Jean-Baptiste Bagaza was deposed in a military coup d'état by Pierre Buyoya.
  • September 31987 Burundian coup d'étatIn a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya.
  • July 5Sri Lankan civil warSri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE uses suicide attacks on the Sri Lankan Army for the first time. The Black Tigers are born and, in the foll…

Everything we record for 1987 →

Sources

Cite this page

“Sri Lankan civil war”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/sri-lankan-civil-war-1987-october-11, accessed October 28, 2026.

Cite the underlying source as well — the source links above go to the record this entry is adapted from.

Questions about this entry

When did Sri Lankan civil war happen?

October 11 1987 — 39 years ago, on a Sunday.

Where does this text come from?

Wikipedia “On this day” feed. Summaries are short adaptations that link back to the source, not reprints.

How do I cite this page?

Use the ready-made citation near the sources at the bottom of the page, and follow the source link to cite the underlying record as well.

Text adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 and from Wikidata (CC0). Images come from Wikimedia Commons; credit and licence are shown with each image. Editorial entries are © What's On This Date. Sources & licensing · How this site works.