Four Four Bravo ambush

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Four Four Bravo ambush
Part of Sri Lankan Civil War
Date 23 July 1983 Location Thirunelveli, Jaffna Peninsula Result Successful LTTE ambush Thirunelveli massacre Beginning of Black July and Sri Lankan Civil War
Belligerents
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam	Sri Lanka Army Sri Lanka Light Infantry
Commanders and leaders
Velupillai Prabhakaran Lt. Sellakili †[1]	Brig J. G. Balthazar, 2nd Lt Vaas Gunawardene †
Strength
25	15
Casualties and losses
1 (Lt. Sellakili)	1 officer & 12 soldiers died, 2 injured

Four Four Bravo was the call sign of a fifteen-man Sri Lankan Army patrol, deployed in the Jaffna Peninsula on 23 July 1983. The patrol was ambushed and thirteen of its members were killed by the LTTE. This incident sparked the Thirunelveli massacre and the Black July riots and is considered to be the start of the Sri Lankan Civil War.^[2]