Apart from fighting the conventional war, the Tamil Tigers have also targeted civilians and deliberately attacked villagers. In one early morning attack in 1999, the Tigers were accused of literally hacking to death women and children in a majority Sinhala village. The Tigers have been accused of trying to ethnically cleanse Jaffna, when they asked all the non-Tamils to leave in 1990.
The Tamils are also notorious for their suicide attacks, which are conducted by highly motivated men and women. These people literally turn themselves into human bombs.
The anti-Tamil riots that took place in July 1983 in Sri Lanka changed the course of the nation’s history. The riots, which were vicious and bloody, lasted for several days and left over 3,000 Tamils dead and a considerable amount of property destroyed. Instead of trying to stop the genocide, Sri Lankan politicians, police and armed forces, as well as several members of the Buddhist clergy, actually took an active part in many of the murders and rapes. The Tamils were targeted by the Sinhalese, who subjected them to untold misery. They were beaten or hacked to death in a frenzy of racial hatred, and their homes and businesses were razed to the ground. The riots caused fear in the Tamil society, and created a movement of refugees within the island. Thousands of Tamils fled to Tamil Nadu, Europe and North America. Even the Sri Lankan President, Jayawardene, refused to condemn the riots and refrained from issuing any form of statement until a few days after the riots were over.
Perhaps one of the most brutal and obviously well organized part of the riots, took place within the confines of a prison in the city of Colombo. Although it was supposed to be a place of maximum security, not just one, but two massacres took place there in the space of just one week.
In the first incident 35 inmates were killed in the Welikada gaol on 25 July, and just two days later a further 17 were killed. The attack is thought to have taken place because two supposed guerilla leaders, Sellarasa Yogachandiran, leader of the LTTE, and Ganeshanathan Jeganathan were being held under the death sentence for the murder of a policeman. When the assailants came across the two men, it is reported that they were forced to kneel while they had their eyes gouged out with iron bars. Then they were stabbed to death and their testicles were wrenched from their bodies.
After these killings, nine prisoners were moved to a padlocked hall, upstairs in the same block. Among these men were Dr Rajasunderam, Sir Lanka’s Gandhian leader, two Catholic priests and a Methodist minister. The nine men were convinced that there would be a further attack, and they were given assurances that they would be protected, but no further measures were taken.
It was about 2.30 p.m. on 27 July, when the nine men heard whistling and jeering coming from outside. One of the priests looked out of the high window and saw prisoners breaking in from a nearby compound. They were wielding axes, iron bars, pieces of firewood and sticks, and there was not one prison guard in sight. The mob had already killed 16 people in the cells on the floor below and they ran up the stairs and started to try and break open the padlocked door. Dr Rajasunderam cried out to the men, ‘Why are you trying to kills us, what have we done to you?’ At that moment the door burst open and he was hit on the side of the neck with an iron bar and blood literally spurted several feet. The remaining eight men decided that they had better defend themselves and started to break up the tables and chairs and, using the legs, they managed to defend themselves. The mob threw bricks and the eight men retaliated by throwing them back. Pieces of firewood and an iron bar were thrown as weapons and this continued for about half an hour. The mob shouted, ‘You are priests, we have to kill you!’ Eventually the violence was ended when the army intervened using tear gas.
Although the official report says that the killings at Welikade gaol were the result of a prison riot, the story does not really ring true. If this were the case, then how did the prisoners get out of their cells without the aid of the guards, and where did they get their weapons? According to sworn statements, the assailants claimed that they were given the instructions by the prison authorites, who ordered them to kill all those prisoners being held at the young offenders ward, which is where the Tamil prisoners were kept.
The families of those murdered on those two days only learned about their death via a news broadcast on the radio. What is worse, they were not even given the chance to say a final goodbye as the men were buried before their families got to see the bodies.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the blood of innocent civilians has stained the hands of the Sri Lankan forces. In many cases, the attacks have been the result of the forces suffering some form of setback in their fight for power. Below is a list of just some of the atrocities that have been carried out between the years 1986 and 1997.
1986
30 November: In attacks on villages in the north-east border, 127 people, mostly Sinhalese, are killed.
1987
21 Apriclass="underline" LTTE detonate a car bomb at Colombo bus station, killing 113 people.
7 May: A bomb destroys central telegraph office, killing 14 people.
14 May: 150 killed when the LTTE attack the city of Anuradhapura.
2 June: LTTE stop bus and shoot 33 people, including 29 Buddhist monks.
1988
11 February: Shootings at Duluwewa result in the killing of 34 Sinhalese.
28 February: Further 37 Sinhalese killed at Borawewa.
1 May: Bus is blown up by a landmine in Trincomalee, killing 22 passengers.
14 November: Bus attacked in Trincomalee, killing 27 Sinhalese.
1989
13 Apriclass="underline" Car bomb explodes in Trincomalee, killing 51 shoppers.
1990
3 August: When praying at a mosque in Kattankudy, 140 Muslims were killed in machete, gun and hand grenade attack.
12 August: Another 120 Muslims killed at Eravur.
1991
2 March: Deputy Defence Minister Ranjan Wijeratne is killed in a car bomb explosion in Colombo.
21 Apriclass="underline" In south-east Moneragala, 21 villagers are killed.
8 July: 27 civilians killed in Batticaloa.
1992
1 September: In Batticaloa 22 Muslims are killed by a bicycle bomb.
15 October: In Palliyagodella 166 Muslims are killed.
1993
23 Apriclass="underline" Former Security Minister, Lalith Athulathmudali is killed at a rally in Colombo by LTTE terrorists.
1994
19 January: At Anuradhapura, 15 bus passengers are killed in a bomb blast.
21 March: 22 fishermen killed in Puttalam.
24 November: Opposition leader, Gamini Dissanayake, and 51 others killed by a suicide bomber.
1995
26 May: at Kallarawa, 42 villagers are killed.
7 August: Suicide bomber explodes bomb hidden in coconut cart in Colombo, killing 24 and wounding 40.
20 October: Terrorists blow up two oil depots in Colombo, killing 20 security personnel.
1996
31 January: A truck packed with explosives rams into the Central Bank building, killing 100 and injuring 1,400 people.