From: kumar@syd.dit.CSIRO.AU (V.R.Kumar)
Subject: NEWS
Organization: CSIRO Division of Info Tech, Sydney, Australia
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 92 03:24:26 GMT

134 CIVILIANS MASSACRED IN RAIDS BY TAMIL TERRORISTS
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COLOMBO, Thursday, October 15, 1992.

Tamil separatist rebels shot or hacked to death atleast 134
people in pre-dawn raids on four Sri Lankan villages today 
in the worst rebel attack in two years. Most of the victims
were shot while several others were hacked with swords and 
machetes.

The tigers also killed 27 government soilders, bringing the total 
to 161. About 150 rebels attacked the northern Polonnaruwa
district, a military spokesman, Colonel Sarat Munasinghe, said.
"They lost just 5 of their men", he said. 

Dozens of villagers are still missing.
"Troops are searching the jungles in case there are any missing
persons," he told reporters in Colombo, adding that many children
were among the dead. He said the death toll might rise.

The massacre victims were found in the villages of Palliyagodella,
Agbopura and Ahmedpura, a senior officer from the district said.

A fourth village, Pamburawa, also came under attack but no-one
was killed. Coloner Munasinghe said 88 people were injured in the
district.

Three of the villages were occupied by minority muslims, while
Agbopura had a mixed population of Muslims and mainly Buddhist
Sinhalese.

The attacks began at 4:45am as the occupants slept and continued
until first light. "Tigers sorrounded the village while they were
still asleep. First they finished off the two gaurd points and then
systematically went from house to house shooting men, women and 
children," a police officer in the area said.
Two army helicopters and two fighter planes fired
on the rebels, killing 5, as they retreated from the villages, Colonel
Munasinghe said.

The LTTE guerillas fighting for a seperate homeland in north and east
of Sri Lanka were responsible for the slaughter, he said. Troops have
since taken control of the four villages.

The tigers, mostly Hindus, have in the past attacked Sinhalese and 
Muslim villages to drive their occupants from the area.

In August 1990, they massacred 140 muslims at Kattankudy village, in
eastern Batticola district. A week later they killed 122 Muslims at
Eravur, in the same area.

The rebels have often accused the Muslims of being army or police 
informants. Muslims comprise Sri Lanka's third-largest community after 
the Sinhalese and the Tamils.

Muslim leaders, especially Mohammed Ashraff, of the Sri Lanka Muslim
Congress, have repeatedly urged the gOvernment to provide more security
for their villages.

Some Muslim officials rushed to the area to try to pre-empt any reta-
liation against the nearest Tamil village. Muslims have in past hit
back in kind against Tamil attacks.

Government soilders have also carried out reprisal killing of Tamil
villagers. But political analysts said that it was unlikely there
would be any army retaliation this time because today's attacks were
aimed at civilians.

"If there is retaliation, it will come from the muslims", one said.

A week ago, the Government announced changes in the military command
to try to make operations against the rebels more effective. 

"It has always been [the rebels'] strategy to attack innocent 
civilians when they can't attack the army or the police," Colonel
Munasinghe said.

But the analysts said the army should deploy more men to protect
villages.

Military commanders have said the army needs far more than its
80,000 soilders to protect villages while launching attacks against
the rebels.

Atleast 25,000 people have died in the nine-year war between the
rebels and the troops. This year, the army has lost 800 men, mostly
in the east from rebel ambushes and landmines.

Source : "Sydney Morning Herald" newspaper dated 16 Oct.92
         "The Australian" newspaper dated 16 Oct.92

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