The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is an organization. They fought the Sri Lankan Civil War against the Government of Sri Lanka for an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka called "Tamil Eelam". LTTE are also known as the "Tamil Tigers". The group was started in 1972 by Velupillai Prabhakaran who was killed in battle against Sri Lanka's forces on May 18, 2009. Prabhakaran's body was cremated because the government did not want people to gather around his grave. There is also the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army who is currently fighting the Indian Army in South India. This group killed the third president of Sri Lanka, Ranasinghe Premadasa.