The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, commonly known as the LTTE or the Tamil Tigers, is a separatist organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Velupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist campaign that sought to create Tamil Eelam, an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. This campaign evolved into the Sri Lankan Civil War, which was one of the longest running armed conflicts in Asia until the LTTE was defeated by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces in May 2009.