Kilinochchi

The quiet capital of Sri Lanka's northern Vanni region, a rebuilding town of paddy fields and reservoirs that carries the raw history of the civil war's final chapter.

Overview

Kilinochchi is the main town of the Kilinochchi District, set on the A9 highway roughly midway between Vavuniya and Jaffna in the flat, dry Vanni heartland. Once the de facto administrative capital of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the town was almost entirely destroyed in the closing months of the war and has since been steadily rebuilt. Today it is a working agricultural town surrounded by paddy fields and irrigation tanks, best known to travellers as a place of poignant war memorials, the vast Iranamadu reservoir and easy access to the birdlife of Chundikkulam. It offers an authentic, off-the-beaten-path glimpse of the recovering north rather than polished tourist attractions.

History

The town grew around the A9 road and the northern railway line in the colonial and post-independence era. During the civil war it became the political and administrative centre of the LTTE from the late 1990s, holding government-style offices, courts and a police force. The Sri Lankan Army captured Kilinochchi on 2 January 2009 after prolonged fighting, a turning point that preceded the end of the war a few months later. Much of the town lay in ruins and has been reconstructed since, with the railway restored to Kilinochchi in 2014.