2009 17 years ago Notable Deaths May 18 2 sources

Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (born 1954)

On May 18, in the year 2009, Velupillai Prabhakaran, Sri Lankan rebel leader, founded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (born 1954). This event is recorded as a Notable Deaths event in the history of May 18, one of 419 recorded events on this date across all of history.

1 notable person is associated with this event, including Velupillai Prabhakaran. Learn more below.

Velupillai Prabhakaran was an Eelam Tamil revolutionary, guerrilla leader and a major figure of Tamil nationalism, being the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organization that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka in reaction to the oppression of the country's Tamil population by the Sri Lankan government. Under his direction, the LTTE undertook a military campaign against the Sri Lankan government for more than 25 years.

Key Facts

  • This event took place on May 18, 2009 (AD era).
  • It is categorised as a Notable Deaths event in recorded history.
  • Referenced in 2 Wikipedia articles.
  • 1 notable person is recorded as involved in or associated with this event.
  • Wikipedia source last updated on 14 May 2026.

On This Date in History 419

Type Year Date Event
Notable Deaths 2024 May 18 Bruce Nordstrom, American businessman (born 1933)
Notable Deaths 2024 May 18 Tony O'Reilly, Irish rugby player and businessman (born 1936)
Notable Deaths 2024 May 18 Alice Stewart, American political commentator (born 1966)
Notable Deaths 2023 May 18 Jim Brown, American football player, civil rights activist, and actor (born 1936)
Notable Deaths 2021 May 18 Charles Grodin, American actor and talk show host (born 1935)
Notable Deaths 2021 May 18 Yolanda Tortolero, Venezuelan politician
Notable Deaths 2020 May 18 Ken Osmond, American actor and police officer (born 1943)
Historical Events 2019 May 18 United States presidential election: Joe Biden launches his presidential campaign
Notable Deaths 2019 May 18 Austin Eubanks, American addiction recovery advocate, survivor of the Columbine shooting (born 1981)
Historical Events 2018 May 18 A school shooting at Santa Fe High School in Texas kills ten people
Historical Events 2018 May 18 Cubana de Aviación Flight 972 crashes in Santiago de las Vegas after takeoff from José Martí International Airport in Ha
Selected Events 2018 May 18 Cubana de Aviación Flight 0972 crashed near Santiago de las Vegas shortly after takeoff from José Martí International Ai
Notable Deaths 2017 May 18 Roger Ailes, American businessman (born 1940)
Notable Deaths 2017 May 18 Chris Cornell, American singer (born 1964)
Notable Deaths 2017 May 18 Jacque Fresco, American engineer and academic (born 1916)
Historical Events 2015 May 18 At least 78 people die in a landslide caused by heavy rains in the Colombian town of Salgar
Notable Deaths 2015 May 18 Halldór Ásgrímsson, Icelandic accountant and politician, 22nd Prime Minister of Iceland (born 1947)
Notable Deaths 2015 May 18 Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (born 1926)
Notable Deaths 2015 May 18 Jean-François Théodore, French businessman (born 1946)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 18 Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (born 1921)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 18 Hans-Peter Dürr, German physicist and academic (born 1929)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 18 Kaiketsu Masateru, Japanese sumo wrestler (born 1948)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 18 Chukwuedu Nwokolo, Nigerian physician and academic (born 1921)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 18 Wubbo Ockels, Dutch physicist and astronaut (born 1946)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 18 Aleksei Balabanov, Russian director and screenwriter (born 1959)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 18 Jo Benkow, Norwegian soldier and politician (born 1924)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 18 Steve Forrest, American actor (born 1925)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 18 David McMillan, American football player (born 1981)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 18 Lothar Schmid, German chess player (born 1928)
Selected Events 2013 May 18 Mark Carson, an openly gay man, was murdered in a hate crime incident in New York City, prompting a 1,500-person march a
Notable Deaths 2012 May 18 Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, German opera singer and conductor (born 1925)
Notable Deaths 2012 May 18 Peter Jones, English-Australian drummer and songwriter (born 1967)
Notable Deaths 2012 May 18 Alan Oakley, English bicycle designer, designed the Raleigh Chopper (born 1927)
Historical Events 2009 May 18 The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides
Notable Births 2009 May 18 Hala Finley, American actress
Notable Deaths 2009 May 18 Dolla, American rapper (born 1987)
Notable Deaths 2009 May 18 Wayne Allwine, American voice actor, sound effects editor and Foley artist (born 1947)
Selected Events 2009 May 18 The Sri Lanka Army killed Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader and founder of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, to bri
Notable Deaths 2008 May 18 Joseph Pevney, American actor and director (born 1911)
Notable Deaths 2008 May 18 Roberto García-Calvo Montiel, Spanish judge (born 1942)
Notable Deaths 2007 May 18 Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1932)
Historical Events 2006 May 18 The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a sec
Notable Deaths 2006 May 18 Jaan Eilart, Estonian geographer, ecologist, and historian (born 1933)
Selected Events 2006 May 18 The Parliament of Nepal unanimously voted to strip King Gyanendra of many of his powers
Historical Events 2005 May 18 A second photo from the Hubble Space Telescope confirms that Pluto has two additional moons, Nix and Hydra
Selected Events 2005 May 18 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion publicly debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo
Notable Deaths 2004 May 18 Elvin Jones, American drummer and bandleader (born 1927)
Notable Births 2003 May 18 Travis Hunter, American football player
Notable Births 2002 May 18 Alina Zagitova, Russian figure skater
Notable Deaths 2002 May 18 Davey Boy Smith, English professional wrestler (born 1962)

This article draws on content from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

People Involved

Velupillai Prabhakaran

Leader of militant Tamil organisation in Sri Lanka (1954–2009)

death

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