The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( , , commonly known as the LTTE or the Tamil Tigers) was a militant organisation that was based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Velupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a  secessionist nationalist insurgency to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil people. This campaign led to the Sri Lankan Civil War, which ran from 1983 until 2009, when the LTTE was defeated by the Sri Lankan Military during the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa.