Eelam War I Eelam War I is the name given to the initial phase of the armed conflict between the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE . Although tensions between the government and Tamil militant groups had been brewing since the 1970s , full scale war did not break out until an attack by the LTTE on a Sri Lanka Army patrol in Jaffna , in the north of the country , on July 23 , 1983 , which killed 13 soldiers . The attack , and the subsequent riots in the south ( dubbed Black July ) , are generally considered as the start of the conflict . This fighting continued until 1985 , when peace talks were held between the two sides in Thimphu , Bhutan , in hopes of seeking a negotiated settlement . They proved fruitless and fighting soon resumed . By 1987 , the Sri Lankan military had cornered the LTTE in Jaffna , on the tip of the island and were confident of bringing an end to the conflict . However , due to internal pressure , specifically concern about the 50 million Tamils living in India , the Indian government called for a halt to the offensive . After the request was snubbed by Sri Lanka , the Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi ordered a flotilla of ships be sent to relieve the LTTE . After the convoy was blocked by the Sri Lanka Navy , India instead chose to airdrop supplies to the besieged city in a mission codenamed Operation Poomalai . Following the successful completion of the mission , and faced with the possibility of further involvement of the Indian military , including reports that Indian ground forces were being prepared for possible involvement in Sri Lanka , Sri Lanka President J . R . Jayewardene held talks with the Indian government to resolve the dispute . As a result of the negotiations , the siege of Jaffna was lifted and the Indo - Sri - Lankan accord was signed on July 29 , 1987 . Sri Lankan troops then withdraw from the north of the country and handed over control over the entire area to Indian peacekeeping troops named the Indian Peace Keeping Force . This brought about an end to the first stage of the ethnic conflict . Civilian killings . Black July . On July 24 , the day the 15 servicemen killed in an LTTE ambush were to be buried , some Sinhalese civilians who had gathered at the cemetery , angered by news of the ambush , which was magnified by wild rumor , formed mobs and started killing , raping , and assaulting Tamils , while looting and burning their properties in retribution for what happened . Sinhalese civilians were equipped with voter registration lists , burning and attacking only Tamil residences and business , while army and government officials stood by . Even Sinhalese civilians who harbored Tamil families in their households ( or suspected of doing so ) were set upon by the mobs . It is estimated that at least 1 , 000 [ 1 ] Tamil people were killed , tens of thousands of houses were destroyed , and a wave of Sri Lankan Tamils left for other countries Kent and Dollar Farm massacres . The Kent and Dollar Farm massacres was one of the earliest massacres of Sinhalese civilian carried out by the LTTE during the Sri Lankan Civil War . The massacres took place on November 30 , 1984 , in two tiny farming villages in the district of Mullaitivu in north - eastern Sri Lanka . The LTTE had claimed that the North East of Sri Lanka was the exclusive homeland of Tamils , and began their campaign of ethnic cleansing in the 1980s . The Sinhalese of the Northern Province and Eastern Province of Sri Lanka suffered severe loss of lives and property as a result of numerous civilian massacres carried out by the LTTE for the purpose of ethnically cleansing the North East of Sri Lanka . Anuradhapura massacre . The Anuradhapura massacre is an incident on May 14 , 1985 , in which LTTE cadres massacred 146 Sinhalese men , women and children in Anuradhapura . The LTTE hijacked a bus and entered Anuradhapura . As the LTTE cadres entered the main bus station , they opened fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons killing and wounding many civilians who were waiting for buses . LTTE cadres then drove to the Buddhist Sri Maha Bobhi shrine and gunned down nuns , monks and civilians as they prayed inside the Buddhist shrine . This incident was designed to provoke massive retaliation by the Sinhalese majority against the Tamils in order to strengthen the LTTE ' s position among the Tamil people . Before they withdraw , the LTTE strike force entered the national park of Wilpattu and killed 18 Sinhalese in the forest reserve .