Anuradhapura massacre

Incident

The LTTE hijacked a bus on May 14, 1985, and entered Anuradhapura. As the cadres entered the main bus station, they opened fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons killing and wounding many civilians who were waiting for buses. The cadres then drove to the Sri Maha Bodhi shrine and gunned down nuns, monks and civilians as they were worshipping inside the Buddhist shrine. The attackers had massacred 146 Sinhalese men, women and children in total, in Anuradhapura.

Before they withdrew, the attackers entered the Wilpattu National Park, taking the park warden Abraham hostage, they rounded up and massacred 24 employees of the Department of Wildlife Conservation. Only one survived.

Retaliation

Anti-Tamil riots broke out in Anuradhapura town soon after the massacre. Sinhalese mob went on a rampage, burning and looting 8 Tamil-owned shops. Kathiresan Hindu temple and several Tamil houses were also burned. Between 15 and 20 Tamil civilians were brutally killed and burned to death. More Tamils were killed the following day. An angered army corporal shot dead 9 Tamil civilians who had sought refuge in the army camp, who kept shooting until he was killed by his commanding officer. On the two days following the attack, 75 Tamil civilians lost their lives.

Aftermath

As the first massacre of Sinhalese civilians carried out by the Tamil militants outside the northern and eastern provinces, the Sinhalese public at large became conscious of the fact that the violence could be brought to their territory as well. The public shock was the primary reason that led to the cease-fire agreement between the government and the Tamil militant groups. The realization that the conflict couldn't be solved by purely military means softened the Sinhalese opposition to accommodation with the Tamils, thereby enabling the government for the first time to seriously consider a political settlement based on regional autonomy to the Tamil areas.

References

References

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