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.