Death of Velupillai Prabhakaran

Date: May 18, 2009 • Location: Rome, Italy

The Sri Lanka Army killed Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader and founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to bring an end to the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war.

The Sri Lanka Army is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. The army was officially established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, though the army traces its roots back to 1881 when Ceylon Light Infantry Volunteers was created; the army was renamed as the 'Sri Lanka Army' when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972. In 2024, the Army had approximately 150,000 personnel.