Sri Lankan civil war

Historical eventAugust 202006

Sri Lankan civil war

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP S. Sivamaharajah is shot dead at his home in Tellippalai.

20th anniversary in 2026

Everything on August 20Original source

In context

When
Sunday, August 20 200620 years ago
Category
Historical eventA dated happening — a battle, treaty, launch, discovery, disaster or decision — recorded on this calendar day.
Era
21st century · 2000s
Anniversary
20th in 2026
Recorded from
Wikipedia “On this day” feed

At a glance

Dates: 1983-07-23 – 2009-05-18.

Place: Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka.

Type: civil war.

Deaths reported: 100001.

Catalyst / how it started

Origin and evolution Main article: Origins of the Sri Lankan civil war The roots of the modern conflict extend back to the colonial era , when the country was known as Ceylon. The British colonial period lasted from 1815 to 1948, during which the British sought monetary gain from Sri Lanka's supply of tea, coffee, coconuts, and rubber. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] A labour shortage led the British to employ Tamils from India to work on tea plantations, furthering fears of racial decline among the Sinhalese. [

Who was involved

Involved: Sri Lanka, Indian Peace Keeping Force, and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

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.

August 20 through the years

Other entries on the same calendar day, in order.

  1. 19981998 United States embassy bombings
  2. 2002Saddam Hussein
  3. 2006Sri Lankan civil war
  4. 2007China Airlines Flight 120
  5. 2008Spanair Flight 5022
  6. 2011First Air Flight 6560
  7. 20122012 Yare prison riot
  8. 2014Hiroshima Prefecture
  9. 2016August 2016 Gaziantep bombing
  10. 2018Silent Sam
  11. 2020Joe Biden

Also in 2006

  • September 9Space Shuttle AtlantisSpace Shuttle Program: Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on STS-115 to resume assembling the International Space Station. It is the firs…
  • March 142006 Chadian coup attemptThe 2006 Chadian coup d'état attempt ends in failure.
  • March 14Operation Bringing Home the GoodsOperation Bringing Home the Goods: Israeli troops raid an American-supervised Palestinian prison in Jericho to capture six Palestinian pr…
  • September 17Fourpeaked MountainFourpeaked Mountain in Alaska erupts, marking the first eruption for the volcano in at least 10,000 years.
  • September 17Őszöd speechAn audio tape of a private speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány is leaked to the public, in which he confessed that his Hu…
  • September 18The CWThe CW Television Network debuts in the US, following the merger of UPN and The WB.
  • September 5Waziristan AccordThe Waziristan Accord is signed between the Government of Pakistan and local Taliban militants in North Waziristan, obliging the Taliban…
  • October 22Panama Canal expansion projectA Panama Canal expansion proposal is approved by 77.8% of voters in a national referendum.

Everything we record for 2006 →

Sources

Cite this page

“Sri Lankan civil war”, What's On This Date, https://whatsonthisdate.com/app/event/sri-lankan-civil-war-2006-august-20, accessed October 27, 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?

August 20 2006 — 20 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.