BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Country profiles | Country profile: Sri Lanka
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/country_profiles/1168427.stm
Lying off the southern tip of India, the tropical island of Sri Lanka has beguiled travellers for centuries with its palm-fringed beaches, diverse landscapes and historical monuments.
But the island has been scarred by a long and bitter civil war arising out of ethnic tensions between the majority Sinhalese and the Tamil minority in the northeast.
After more than 25 years of violence, the conflict appeared to be at an end - at least militarily - in May 2009, when government forces eliminated the last area controlled by Tamil Tiger rebels.
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