Anuradhapura massacre


The Anuradhapura massacre occurred in Sri Lanka in 1985 and was carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This was the largest massacre of Sinhalese civilians by the LTTE to date; it was also the first major operation carried out by the LTTE outside a Tamil majority area. The responsibility for the massacre was not openly claimed by any Tamil militant group and some of the groups, including PLOTE and TULF, expressed revulsion at the attack. However, state intelligence discovered that the operation was ordered by the LTTE Mannar commander Marcelin Fuselus and executed by his subordinate Anthony Kaththiar.

Incident

The LTTE hijacked a bus May 14, 1985, and entered Anuradhapura. As the LTTE cadres entered the main bus station, they opened fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons killing and wounding many civilians who were waiting for buses. LTTE cadres then drove to the Sri Maha Bodhi shrine and gunned down nuns, monks and civilians as they were worshipping inside the Buddhist shrine. Before they withdrew, the LTTE strike force entered the national park of Wilpattu and killed 18 Sinhalese in the forest reserve. The LTTE cadres massacred 146 Sinhalese men, women and children in total, in Anuradhapura.
Initially, EROS claimed responsibility for the massacre, but it later retracted the statement, and joined the PLOTE in denouncing the incident. The groups later accused the LTTE for the attack.