Tamil Rebels Kill 134 in Attacks on Sri Lanka Villages

Tamil rebels attacked three villages in north-central Sri Lanka on Thursday, killing at least 134 people, most of them Muslim civilians, the military and witnesses said.

It was the biggest attack on Muslim villagers in Sri Lanka since August, 1990, when Tamil Tiger rebels killed more than 300 Muslims in two attacks in the eastern Batticaloa district.

Thursday’s attack was in a Muslim-majority region bordering Batticaloa, one of the key districts the Tigers want to make into a homeland for members of the minority Tamil community.

Muslims, who make up 7% of Sri Lanka’s 17 million people, side with the Sinhalese-dominated government in its war against Tamil separatists. Sinhalese are mainly Buddhists; most Tamils are Hindus.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

Eight soldiers, 11 policemen and 30 children were among those killed in the hourlong pre-dawn attacks, said officials at the military headquarters in Colombo.

At least 7,000 people have been killed since June, 1990, when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam resumed its insurgency to end alleged economic and cultural discrimination by the Sinhalese.