COLOMB, Sept. 14, Reuter: The powerful Tamil Tigers separatist group massacred at least 66 people in eastern Sri Lanka at the weekend and a ‘Spokesman for the group said they ‘acted to prevent rival militants from slaughtering them,
Police and residents in Batticaloa said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam shot down unarmed ‘members of three groups in sudden ‘onslaughts on Sunday across the eastern coastal district.
This is butchery, absolute butchery”, said Batticaloa Police Chief Nimal De Silva, “The Tigers are hell-bent on annihilating the other groups”,
The victims were from the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), the People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Elam (PLOT) and the ‘Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), known as the “Three Stars”.
De Silva said nearly 70 members of the three groups surrendered to police and Indian peacekeeping troops on Monday, asking for protection from the Tigers.
Unlike the Tigers, they support an Indian backed peace pact that has ended four years fighting in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict. The Tigers emerged as the dominant rebel force in the fighting, and occasionally massacred other groups to maintain their dominance.
The latest killings, seven weeks after the July 29 pact brought a ceasefire in the conflict with government forces, caused shock in Batticaloa
“It’s one sided, it’s just been a massacre of unarmed people”, Batticaloa Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Kingsley Swampillai told Reuters.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 18, 1987
