Pottuvil massacre

Pottuvil massacre
Pottuvil
Pottuvil (Sri Lanka)
Location Pottuvil, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka
Date 18 September 2006
Target Muslim civilians
Attack type
 Armed massacre
Deaths 10
Non-fatal injuries
 0
Perpetrators Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam / Special Task Force (Sri lankan Army)

The Pottuvil massacre was a disputed event in the Sri Lankan civil war. It happened on Monday, 18 September 2006, when 10 unarmed minority Muslim civilians who were engaged in clearing a reservoir at Rattal Kulam in Pottuvil in the southern part of the Ampara District in the Eastern Province, were attacked and killed. All the men were aged between 19–35 years of age; three of the men were decapitated and the others were shot or hacked to death by the unknown gunmen.[1]

Initially a BBC report stated that some members of the community accused the Special Task Force of involvement in this incident.[2] The local Muslim population staged protests demanding the removal of the STF (Special Task Force) Officer and they questioned how the LTTE could infiltrate into an area carrying swords kill 10 people and then leave without the STF spotting them and no encounter between the LTTE and the STF took place.[3] Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the SLMC, initially wanted an international commission to probe the incident.[4] However the sole survivor of the attack, Kareem Meera Mohideen, recuperating from grave injuries, identified the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as the attackers. The South Asian Terrorist portal claimed that the LTTE tried its best, to wash its hands off the incident by blaming it on the STF.[5]

Amid these accusations the government has acted irregularly. The ambulance transporting the only survivor was prevented by police from going to the hospital at a predominant Muslim town called Kalumunai. The ambulance was redirected to a hospital at a sinhalese dominated Amparai. At the hospital the survivor was held incommunicado by armed guards. Further the SLMM was prevented from talking to the survivor. Eyewitness also reported that the police destroyed crime scene evidence.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW Weekly Assessments & Briefings Volume 5, No. 12,October 2, 2006". South Asia Terrorism Portal. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
  2. ↑ "Sri Lankan civilians found dead". BBC. 2006-09-18. Retrieved 2006-09-18.
  3. ↑ "When will the war end?". The Morning Leader. Retrieved 2006-09-30.
  4. ↑ "'Muttur must be a neutral zone'". The Morning Leader. Retrieved 2006-09-30.
  5. ↑ "SOUTH ASIA INTELLIGENCE REVIEW Weekly Assessments & Briefings Volume 5, No. 12,October 2, 2006". South Asia Terrorism Portal. Retrieved 2006-10-02.
  6. ↑ "Sri Lanka's Human Rights Crisis" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-08-11.

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