Anuradhapura massacre

Anuradhapura massacre
Anuradhapura is located in Sri Lanka
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura
Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka)
LocationAnuradhapura, Sri Lanka
DateMay 14, 1985; 39 years ago (1985-05-14)
Attack type
Massacre
WeaponsGuns
Deaths146 Sinhalese men, women and children
PerpetratorsLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

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] In 1988, the LTTE claimed that the massacre was planned and executed under the guidance of Indian intelligence agency, RAW.[8]

  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. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Sabaratnam, T (1996). The Murder of a Moderate: Political biography of Appapillai Amirthalingam. Dehiwela: Nivetha Publishers. p. 333.