‘Death of the Tiger’ chronicles the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war

‘Death of the Tiger’ chronicles the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war
Tamil refugees were forced to flee in 2009 as the Sinhalese military made its final advancement. Wikimedia Commons
‘Death of the Tiger’ chronicles the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war
Tamil refugees were forced to flee in 2009 as the Sinhalese military made its final advancement. Wikimedia Commons

‘Death of the Tiger’ chronicles the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war

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The civil war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009 after 26 years of conflict. Both sides – the majority Sinhalese and the minority Tamils – committed countless acts of terror and violence. The ruthless final push by the Sinhalese army went largely unseen by independent observers. Not only did it wipe out most Tamil guerrillas, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, it also killed thousands of innocent civilians.

The effort has been heralded by military tacticians worldwide as the only successful counterinsurgency campaign. Jon Lee Anderson, a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine, tells us about his January 17 article, “Death of the Tiger,” which offers a definitive account of what transpired.