Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil political activists offer flowers at a makeshift monument in Mullivaikkal where thousands of people were killed in fierce fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels, on Monday.

Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil politicians and a few civilians gathered Monday at a ceremony to honor thousands of dead on the battleground of the final days of the decades-long civil war that ended in 2009.

Under heavy surveillance, Lawmakers and local leaders lit earthen lamps and offered flowers at a makeshift memorial in Mullivaikkal village in northeastern Sri Lanka where thousands of people were killed in fierce fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Civilians largely kept away as several Sri Lankan intelligence agents and police were watching those attending the ceremony. Even journalists covering the ceremony were followed and Sri Lankan security agents listened in as they interviewed civilians and politicians.

Mullivaikkal was the site where the beleaguered Tamil Tiger rebels were caught in the final days with hundreds of thousands of civilians and mounted their last stand against the security forces. In the last days, government troops killed rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and the entire Tamil rebel leadership along with scores of civilians.

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