President orders compensation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 1999, 11:51 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President announced this afternoon that the government will give compensation to the immediate relatives of the victims of today’s massacre in the Ampara district in which 51 villagers were killed. She expressed her condolences to the bereaved families.

Sixty one people were killed in two villages in the Ampara district by gunmen in the early hours of the morning today.

Fifty five were killed in the village of Gonagala around 2 a.m. in the morning. Five were wounded, two of whom succumbed to their injuries later.

Two villagers were killed in Borapola around 11.30 by the attackers. Another two were killed in Bedi Rakka.

Many of the more than 35 civilians who were reported missing or were feared abducted by the attackers returned later this day. They had hidden in the jungle to escape the carnage.

Meanwhile, civilians in the Tamil border villages of Palaiyadiveddai, Poochchikoodu and 39th colony in the Batticaloa district began moving out fearing reprisals.

TULF MP for Batticaloa appealed to the Police to take protective measures in the area.

The Government Department of Information took a group of journalists to the villages where the civilians were killed today.