Sri Lanka Rebels Kill 24 in Attacks on Two Villages

Villagers in this hamlet were jolted from their sleep before dawn Thursday by the burst of grenades and the staccato fire of machine guns.

Many fled into the jungle. But 24 others, including a 6-day-old infant, were slaughtered in their huts here, and in Tammannewa, a neighboring village in northeast Sri Lanka.

It was the fifth time in six days that Tamil rebels have attacked villages of ethnic Sinhalese. Police say 109 villagers have been massacred, some with machetes.

The military suspects the rebels are trying to divert government forces from their offensive against Jaffna, on a peninsula further north.

But the massacres threaten to provoke a Sinhalese backlash that could engulf the rest of the country in an ethnic war until now largely confined to the north.

The Tamils accuse the majority Sinhalese of discriminating against them, and have been fighting for a homeland since 1983. An estimated 37,000 people have died.

“I heard my dog barking, followed by explosions and gunshots. I grabbed my wife and two children from their beds and ran into the jungle,” said Kadiraka Hathembe.

The 60-year-old farmer returned two hours later to find his hut in ashes. His daughter, son-in-law and a grandson lay dead in the adjoining hut.

The military said 24 people were killed, including a mother and her 6-day-old infant.

On the Jaffna peninsula, the government’s offensive continued. Warplanes bombed a village Thursday, killing 10 civilians, the government said.