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Assassination of the mayor of Jaffna, Alfred Duraiappah, in 1975 by Prabhakaran.
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The attempted assassination in 1978 of a Tamil Member of Parliament, M. Canagaratnam, was carried out personally by Prabhakaran, the leader of the LTTE
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In May 1981 the burning of the Jaffna library, in the presence of two Sinhalese cabinet members, by what witnesses described as uniformed police and Sinhalese mobs,[50] resulted in the destruction of more than 90,000 books, including palm leaf scrolls of immense historical value.
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Between 400–3,000 Tamils were estimated to have been killed, and many more fled Sinhalese-majority areas. This is considered the beginning of the civil war.
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In July 1983 the LTTE launched a deadly ambush on Sri Lanka army patrol Four Four Bravo outside the town of Thirunelveli, killing an officer and 12 soldiers
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62 men, women and children were attacked during the night as they slept and were hacked to death with fatal blows to the head from axes
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In November 1984, Sinhalese convicts were settled in the Kent and Dollar farms after the Tamil civilians living there were evicted by the Sri Lankan Army. The settlement of prisoners was used to further harass Tamils into leaving the area. The Sinhala settlers confirmed that young Tamil women were abducted, brought there and gang-raped, first by the forces, next by prison guards and finally by prisoners.
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In April 1987 the conflict exploded with ferocity, as both government forces and LTTE fighters engaged in a series of bloody operations.
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In July 1987 the LTTE carried out their first suicide attack. Captain Miller of the Black Tigers drove a small truck carrying explosives through the wall of a fortified Sri Lankan army camp, reportedly killing 40 soldiers. The LTTE carried out over 378 suicide attacks, one of the largest suicide campaigns in the world, and the suicide attack became a trademark of the LTTE and a characteristic of the civil war.