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| Military Spokesperson Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe when questioned by the media denied that the army was responsible. {{Bquote|"The security forces have never done such a thing,"}} he said. He said the Tigers were responsible. Some newspapers quoting police sources said the LTTE was responsible. According to this version, the victims were army informants and the LTTE had taken revenge due to this. A court case is pending in the Mannar local court system. <ref name=ml/><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/YAOI-6SK3L3?OpenDocument | title=CHA monthly activity}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=91187&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24|title=Colombo reject lame excuses}}</ref> | Military Spokesperson Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe when questioned by the media denied that the army was responsible. {{Bquote|"The security forces have never done such a thing,"}} he said. He said the Tigers were responsible. Some newspapers quoting police sources said the LTTE was responsible. According to this version, the victims were army informants and the LTTE had taken revenge due to this. A court case is pending in the Mannar local court system. <ref name=ml/><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/YAOI-6SK3L3?OpenDocument | title=CHA monthly activity}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=91187&version=1&template_id=44&parent_id=24|title=Colombo reject lame excuses}}</ref> | ||
| ==Photo controversy== | |||
| The pro rebel ] news site initially published gruesomely graphic photographs of the four victims.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=18447|title = Family of four wiped out}}</ref>This was republished by various sections of the media creating controversy in Sri Lanka and aboard. The father, daughter and son were hanging dead in one room while the mother was dead on the floor in another room. The intestines of the seven-year-old boy are seen protruding. The vaginal area of the 27-year-old mother and nine-year-old daughter were extremely bloody. It appears that the killers have sadistically tortured their victims including the 38-year-old father.<ref name=ml/><ref name=md/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/524|title=Mahinda chintanaya and maximum devolution of power in Mannar}}</ref> | |||
| ==See also== | ==See also== | ||
Revision as of 07:08, 27 November 2007
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2006 Mannar massacre or Vankalai massacre refers to the massacre of a family of four minority Sri Lankan Tamils from the village of Vankalai in the district of Mannar in Sri Lanka on June 8, 2006. The family of four was tortured and both the mother and the nine year old daughter were allegedly raped before being killed. The Sri Lankan army and Tamil Tiger rebels have blamed each other for the killings. A local court case is still in progress.
Background information
Vankalai is situated about four and a half miles away from Thallady and about six miles to the south east of Mannar, a town under the control of the Sri Lankan government. During the period of massacre the people of Vankalai had been retiring to the St. Anne’s Church and other churches during nightfall due to the unsafe conditions created by the prevailing security situation.
The past residents of Vankalai were also affected like many other villages in the region. In 1985, Catholic Priest Fr. Mary Bastian, a native of Vankalai, and about 20 others were killed. In later years a prominent school principal from Vankalai and some others were also killed and dumped in a well. This prompted many residents to flee the village to rest of the country as internally displaced persons or as refugees to India.
After the ceasefire between the rebel LTTE and the government came in to effect in February 23, 2002 many former residents returned. The victims of the Vankalai massacre too had returned from India about one –and-half year ago. The husband was 38-year-old Sinnaiah Moorthy Martin a carpenter by profession. The wife was 27-year-old Anthony Mary Madeleine also known as Chitra. The daughter was nine-year-old Anne Lakshika. The son was seven-year-old Dilakshan. While the victims used to be refugees in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Chitra the mother was remembered by workers of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) as a dedicated teacher in one of their school projects in the refugee camp.
Incident
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Residents in the area told investigators that on the June 8, 2006 morning the security forces had surrounded the area and went to several houses and gathered particulars regarding the families including the Martins. Local residents have stated that they can identify the three military personnel who went from home to home. That night as was the custom residents in the area had gone to the St. Anne’s church to for safe refuge. Although the victimized family too used to do that, they were had been absent from church on Thursday June 8, 2006 night.
When relatives and neighbors checked on the following morning, they found the entire family dead. The victims had been hacked, beaten, tortured and hung. The mother and daughter seemed to have been sexually violated with used condoms lying around. The first body to be found was that of Mary Martin’s blood soaked body, she was lying naked on the floor. Then they found the bodies of the Moorthy her husband and the children in other rooms. Their bodies were found hanging by ropes. The bodies also showed severe torture marks. No firearms had been used in the murders. Most weapons used to inflict torture were that of the carpenter’s tools such as knife, chisel and saws.
Reactions
Although there are no eyewitnesses to the actual killing or torture, the people of Vankalai suspected members of the security forces as being responsible. The Catholic Bishop of Mannar, Joseph Rayappu has stated that
"those responsible for security were behind the massacre"
.
David Jeyaraj a prominent Sri Lankan journalist from Canada has termed the act State terror. Human Rights groups have condemned this massacre and demanded an independent investigation.
Contacted by AsiaNews, the parish priest of Vankalai, Fr Victor Avithappar, said civilians were scared, insecure and indignant about the latest, particularly brutal killings.
"People are panicked and afraid, they don't feel safe. They want peace, to live free from fear,"
However, Fr Avithappar said
"we cannot tell who did this", because there were no eye witnesses to the killings, which took place at the dead of night, but this area is under army control. The soldiers are all over, their sentry points are everywhere."
Sri Lankan government officials have denied the charges that military was responsible and have accused via the ministry of defense website that the rebel LTTE group as being responsible for the massacre..
Military Spokesperson Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe when questioned by the media denied that the army was responsible.
"The security forces have never done such a thing,"
he said. He said the Tigers were responsible. Some newspapers quoting police sources said the LTTE was responsible. According to this version, the victims were army informants and the LTTE had taken revenge due to this. A court case is pending in the Mannar local court system.
See also
Other massacres of civilians during the 2006 and 2007 period.
Notes
- In 1984, there was another series of massacres of allegedly over 90 minority Tamil civilians, in the same vicinity and it is also sometimes referred as Mannar massacre. But the current one has a prefix of 2006 to differentiate it from the previous incident(s)
References
- ^ "Another family wiped out in Vankalai".
- ^ "Details of few extra judicial claims" (PDF).
- ^ "People terrorized after massacre of Tamil family". Cite error: The named reference "AN" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ "Statement by women for democracy and human rights".
- "Country of origin information report– Sri Lanka".
- "Sri Lankan Combatants Rape Women to Terrorize".
- "Points to ponder on Vankalai incident... Investing upon the tears?".
- "CHA monthly activity".
- "Colombo reject lame excuses".
- "Report by the special rapportuer on summary and arbitray executions" (PDF).
- Hamlyn, Micheal (February 18, 1985), "Mannar massacre", The Times
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