Black July (Sinhala: කළු ජූලිය Kalu Juliya) is the common name used to refer to the anti-Tamil pogrom and riots in Sri Lanka during July 1983. The riots began as a "response" to a deadly ambush on 23 July 1983 by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil militant group, that killed 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers. Beginning in the capital Colombo on the night of 24 July 1983, anti-Tamil pogroms spread to other parts of the country. Over seven days, mobs of mainly Sinhalese attacked Tamil targets, burning, looting and killing. Estimates of the death toll range between 400 and 3,000. 8,000 homes and 5,000 shops were destroyed. 150,000 people were made homeless. The economic cost of the riots was $300 million. A wave of Sri Lankan Tamils fled to other countries in the ensuing years and many th