Anuradhapura massacre

The Anuradhapura massacre occurred in Sri Lanka in 1985 and was carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.[1][2] This was the largest massacre of Sinhalese civilians by the LTTE to date; it was also the first major operation carried out by the LTTE outside a Tamil majority area. Initially, EROS claimed responsibility for the massacre, but it later retracted the statement, and joined the PLOTE in denouncing the incident. The groups later accused the LTTE for the attack.[3] Since then, no Tamil militant group has admitted to committing the massacre.[4] However, state intelligence discovered that the operation was ordered by the LTTE's leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. He assigned the massacre to the LTTE Mannar commander Victor (real name Marcelin Fuselus) and it was executed by Victor's subordinate Anthony Kaththiar (alias Radha).[5][6] The LTTE claimed the attack was in revenge of the 1985 Valvettiturai massacre, where the Sri Lanka Army killed 70 Tamil civilians in Prabhakaran's hometown.[7]

Anuradhapura massacre
Anuradhapura is located in Sri Lanka
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka)
LocationAnuradhapura, Sri Lanka
DateMay 14, 1985 (1985-05-14)
Attack type
Massacre
WeaponsGuns
Deaths146 Sinhalese men, women and children
PerpetratorsLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

Incident

The LTTE hijacked a bus on May 14, 1985, and entered Anuradhapura. As the cadres entered the main bus station, they opened fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons killing and wounding many civilians who were waiting for buses.[8] The cadres then drove to the Sri Maha Bodhi shrine and gunned down nuns, monks and civilians as they were worshipping inside the Buddhist shrine.[9] Before they withdrew, the attacker's strike force entered the national park of Wilpattu and killed 18 Sinhalese in the forest reserve. The attackers had massacred 146 Sinhalese men, women and children in total, in Anuradhapura.

According to HRW,

Initially, a small militant organization, the Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS) claimed responsibility for the massacre, but it later retracted the statement, and joined the People's Liberation Organization for Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) in denouncing the incident. The groups accused the LTTE.”[10]

Retaliation

Anti-Tamil riots broke out in Anuradhapura town soon after the massacre. Sinhalese mob went on a rampage, burning and looting 8 Tamil-owned shops. Kathiresan Hindu temple and several Tamil houses were also burned. Between 15 and 20 Tamil civilians were brutally killed and burned to death. More Tamils were killed the following day, with some being dragged off the train. The mob descended upon two young Tamil boys from Jaffna who sought refuge in the Kachcheri; and when the Police Station across the road refused to escort the boys, one of them was beaten to death and the other was chased down and burned to death.[11] An angered army corporal shot dead 9 Tamil civilians who had sought refuge in the army camp, who kept shooting until he was killed by his commanding officer.[7] On the two days following the attack, 75 Tamil civilians lost their lives.[12]

Aftermath

As the first massacre of Sinhalese civilians carried out by the Tamil militants outside the northern and eastern provinces, the Sinhalese public at large became conscious of the fact that the violence could be brought to their territory as well. The public shock was the primary reason that led to the cease-fire agreement between the government and the Tamil militant groups. The realization that the conflict couldn't be solved by purely military means softened the Sinhalese opposition to accommodation with the Tamils, thereby enabling the government for the first time to seriously consider a political settlement based on regional autonomy to the Tamil areas.[7]

See also

References
  1. Barry Rubin; Judith Colp Rubin (2015). Chronologies of Modern Terrorism. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 9781317474654. LTTE terrorist in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, massacre about 120 Sinhalese and injure 58 others, many of them pilgrims who were inside the sacred Bo Tree temple
  2. Atalia Omer; Jason A. Springs (2013). Religious Nationalism: A Reference Handbook: A Reference Handbook: Contemporary World Issues. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781598844405. LTTE commits the Anuradhapura massacre of civilians. This is one of the LTTE's largest massacres to date.
  3. "GENERAL". www.hrw.org. Retrieved 2017-09-14.
  4. Amarasingam, Amarnath (2015). Pain, Pride, and Politics: Social Movement Activism and the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora in Canada. University of Georgia Press. p. 38. ISBN 9780820348148. Although no Tamil militant group openly claimed responsibility, some of the groups, including PLOTE and TULF, expressed revulsion at the attack
  5. Gunaratna, Rohan (1993). Indian Intervention in Sri Lanka: The Role of India's Intelligence Agencies. South Asian Network on Conflict Research. p. 408. ISBN 9789559519904.
  6. Richardson, John Martin (2005). Paradise Poisoned: Learning about Conflict, Terrorism, and Development from Sri Lanka's Civil Wars. International Center for Ethnic Studies. p. 76. ISBN 9789555800945. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  7. Tempest, Rone (1985-06-21). "Massacre That 'Woke Everybody Up' Helped Bring Truce in Sri Lanka". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  8. Sri Lanka Tamil Terror: Blood flows at a Buddhist shrine
  9. Daya Gamage (1 March 2013). "(The West) Eyes Wide Closed: Revisiting Tamil Tiger massacres in Sri Lanka". Asian Tribune. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
  10. "General".
  11. "Anuradhapura Diary: a dark day". Frontline. June 28, 1985. pp. 34–35.
  12. Gassbeek, Timmo (2010). Bridging troubled waters? Everyday inter-ethnic interaction in a context of violent conflict in Kottiyar Pattu, Trincomalee, Sri Lanka (PhD). Wageningen University. p. 152.

References and further reading
  • Gunaratna, Rohan. (1998). Sri Lanka's Ethnic Crisis and National Security, Colombo: South Asian Network on Conflict Research. ISBN 955-8093-00-9
  • Gunaratna, Rohan. (October 1, 1987). War and Peace in Sri Lanka: With a Post-Accord Report From Jaffna, Sri Lanka: Institute of Fundamental Studies. ISBN 955-8093-00-9
  • Gunasekara, S.L. (November 4, 2003). The Wages of Sin, ISBN 955-8552-01-1
  • Sri Lanka Tamil Terror Time May 27, 1985

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