2ND LEAD

LTTE details civilian killings by Sri Lankan forces and paramilitaries after Geneva Talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 April 2006, 07:41 GMT]
103 civilians, including six children, have been killed by Sri Lankan forces and its paramilitaries since Geneva Talks on 24 February untill April 27, according to a report issued by the Political Head Quarters of the Liberation Tigers Friday. 12 Tamil civilians were killed on February 27, March 5, 6, 9, 20, 22, 24, 25, and 28, and the first attack on SLA posts after the Geneva Talks in February took place on April 8th after the assasination of Trincomalee district Tamil activist Mr. V. Vigneswaran. "Readers can now make their own conclusion about who is responsible for deteriorating situation following the Geneva talks," the report issued by the LTTE concluded.


Download the report with details in PDF format

Full text of the reports follows:

Tamil civilians murdered, by and under the supervision of, Sri Lankan Armed Forces since Geneva talks on 24 February until April 27 2006

The Tamil civilians murdered by, and under the supervision of, the SLAFs since the Geneva talks on 24 February are given in a Table in this report. With a brief explanation of the data in this Table. This Table tells the story of the gruesome terrorizing nature of the murderous campaign by the SLAFs. After reading this Table, it is not too hard to imagine the state of terror in which the Tamil people are living in the SLAFs controlled areas of Northeast.

These murders were carried out by two main methods. These are, killing by direct shooting of the SLAFs and killing by direct shooting of the paramilitary while SLAFs stood guard nearby.

In the case of direct shooting by the SLAFs, the victims are first arrested on a false pretext. They are then shot and the bodies just thrown in a public place to be "discovered" by the people. The murder of five young men in Puthur on 18 April is a typical case of this style of SLAFs murder.

The other style of SLAFs murder is carried out using paramilitary. These murders are carried out after the SLAFs prepares the ground for the safety of and escape route for the paramilitary which then carries out the murder. Sometimes the roads are cleared of vehicles by the SLAFs so that the crime can be committed with minimum number of eyewitness. SLAFs has stood at the doors of neighbours preventing the neighbours from going to the aid of the victims. In all such murders people reported the presence of SLAFs nearby. When murders had to be committed too close to a SLAFs presence, people observed that the SLAFs vacated the place just before the murder is carried out; returning only after the paramilitary has safely escaped. The close synchronization of the movement of SLAFs and the paramilitary during these murderous campaigns are clear signal that the two are working closely together. These paramilitary murders are carried out in three distinct styles. These are, balaclava wearing gunmen arriving in white-van at night at the victim's home; helmeted motorbike riders shooting and escaping in daylight; and missing people surfacing as bodies

In Trincomalee, Sinhala mobs have also been used by the SLAFs to kill Tamil civilians. That the SLAFs stood by as Sinhala mobs continued the mayhem is now well known and reported in the international media.

Following all such face to face killing, police is brought in to remove the bodies, a judge is also usually present at the scene, and the bodies are taken to the hospital for a postmortem report and the bodies are released to the family. The case is brought to the courts. As is now the hallmark of the Sri Lankan justice system it stops here. The Table gives the names of civilians killed grouped according to the styles of murdered described above.

To these styles of murders, two more styles must be added. These are, the killing by SLAFs planted claymore mines targeting civilians and killing by aerial bombing and shelling of civilian settlements.

Some of the claymore attacks and also one incident of face to face attack have been carried by SLAFs that penetrated the Forward Defense Lines of the LTTE. Since these murders are carried out inside LTTE area by the SLAFs these have been grouped separately in the Table.

The styles of murders to look for in the Table

• direct shooting by the SLAFs,
• direct shooting by the paramilitary while SLAFs stood guard nearby, carried out in three distinct styles
  • balaclava wearing gunmen arriving in white-van at night at the victim's home;
  • helmeted motorbike riders shooting and escaping in daylight; and
  • missing people surfacing as bodies.
• SLAFs assisted Sinhala mobs,
• SLAFs planted claymore mines that target civilians,
• SLAFs aerial bombing and shelling of civilian settlements and
• SLAFs killing inside LTTE area

Other major issues to look for in the table

The number of Tamil children and women killed by the SLAFs since the February 2006 Geneva talks are highlighted in the age and gender columns of the table. Six children under the age of 18 have been killed. Three children were killed in the so called "limited operation" carried out by all three armed forced of GoSL in Trincomalee on 25 April. Among them is a four year old child. The photos of the dead bodies of these children are in page 8. Fifteen women were also killed by this SLAFs murderous campaign.

The murders of the three high profile community leaders, Vigneswaran on 7 April, Vilvarasa on 20 April and Senthilnathan on 26 April must also be highlighted as all the three men had the potential to be parliamentary representatives for Northeast. Their murders represent an attempt to eliminate the development of democratic leadership among the Tamils.

Another very important aspect of these civilian murders that is missed by most international observers is the fact that a total 12 Tamil civilians were killed on February 27, March 5, 6, 9, 20, 22, 24, 25, and 28. Then on April 7 Tamil activist, Vigneswaran, was killed. The first attack on SLA posts after the Geneva talks took place on April 8th. Readers can now make their own conclusion about who is responsible for deteriorating situation following the Geneva talks.

Headquarters, Political Division,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam