Sri Lankan Guerrillas Slay 107 in Massacre : Another 60 Reported Wounded by Tamils as Families Are Struck by Grenades and Gunfire

Tamil guerrillas Friday waylaid three buses and two trucks loaded with people celebrating a holiday, dragged passengers onto the jungle road and killed at least 107 with machine guns and grenades, officials said.

About 60 people were wounded in the killing spree that lasted 15 minutes, according to Tilak Ratanakara, chief of the government’s Media Center.

Women and children were among the victims, most of whom were Sinhalese, he said.

“There were all kinds of families, with fathers, mothers and children returning to their homes after the New Year celebrations,” he said.

End of Holiday

The massacre came at the end of Sri Lanka’s New Year holiday, a lunar date that fell on Tuesday and was celebrated by both the Tamils and the Sinhalese, who are the majority ethnic group in this troubled island nation off the tip of India.

The number of attackers was not reported, but the group was said to be large. Officials said poor communication facilities made it difficult to get details of the attack. Troops were deployed to protect residents in the area and to help retrieve the bodies.

The attackers struck near the village of Alut Oya, about 115 miles northeast of Colombo, the capital.

Ratanakara said the trucks and buses were headed either northeast to the port city of Trincomalee or south to the Buddhist holy city of Kandy. Most Sinhalese are Buddhists, while Tamils are Hindus.

“This is genocide of the Sinhalese people,” Ratanakara said. “The terrorists are trying to drive away the Sinhalese from the Trincomalee District and claim it is their traditional homeland.”

Other officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Sinhalese passengers were segregated from the others and then killed.

Death Toll Over 5,000

More than 5,000 people have been killed since Tamil militants began their campaign for autonomy in July, 1983. The rebels charge that the Tamils are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese, who control the government and army.

Hours after the massacre, the government announced that it was ending a 10-day cease-fire that began last Saturday. Officials earlier expressed hope that the cease-fire could lead to negotiations with the Tamil rebel militias.

The government also declared a curfew banning people from the streets in the eastern district of Trincomalee, where many vengeance murders by gunfire and machete have been carried out.

Agitating for Autonomy

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 was bombed in the island’s north-central region in July. More than 40 people were killed in those attacks.

Tamils have been agitating for more autonomy since 1956 when the government moved to make Sinhala the official language. The Tamils have their own Tamil language.

The open warfare did not begin until 1983 when, after Tamils killed 13 soldiers in their first major attack, rioting erupted and hundreds of people were killed.