122 Riders Dragged From Buses, Killed in Sri Lanka

Tamil militants attacked three buses and two trucks with machine guns and grenades today, dragging out passengers and killing 122 members of a rival ethnic group, including women and children, the government said.

At least 60 other people were wounded in the attack on the main road linking Colombo, the capital, and the northeastern coastal town of Trincomalee.

Tilak Ratanakara, chairman of the government Media Center, said it was believed that most of the victims were Sinhalese, the majority group on the island.

Other officials said the Sinhalese were segregated from the Tamils and shot.

Ratanakara said about 40 Tamil guerrillas stopped the three buses and two trucks on a jungle road near Aluth-Oya village, 115 miles northeast of Colombo.

Sinhalese Taken Aside

The rebels ordered the passengers out of their vehicles and asked them to separate into groups of Tamils and Sinhalese. The rebels then shot the Sinhalese, said Amarasena Rajapakse, police deputy inspector general.

Women and children were among the dead, Ratanakara said. The army was called out to protect villagers and retrieve bodies in the area, he said.

Most of the victims were headed home to Colombo from villages in the Trincomalee district after Tuesday’s New Year celebrations with their relatives, Ratanakara said. The New Year holiday, which marks Buddha’s birth, is celebrated by both Tamils and Sinhalese.

The government had announced a 10-day cease-fire for the New Year and said its forces would not attack Tamil militants on land or by air. Tamil groups agreed to go along if soldiers did not attack, but both sides allege violations.

Discrimination Charged

Tamils, who are mostly Hindu, allege discrimination in jobs, education and use of the Tamil language by the Buddhist Sinhalese in this island nation formerly known as Ceylon. Tamils comprise 18% of the island’s 16 million people.

Moderate Tamils want more autonomy for their communities in the north and east of Sri Lanka, where they predominate, while militants are fighting for a separate nation.

The last major bus massacres by Tamil separatists were in Trincomalee last June, when two passenger buses were blown up on the same day. Another bus in the north-central part of the island was bombed in July. More than 40 people were killed in those attacks.