Siththandy massacre 20,27.07.1990
Siththandy village is situated 8 Kms north of the Batticaloa town. The village has an ancient and famous Hindu temple.
On 20.07.1990, Sri Lankan military rounded up the village and took all the people into this temple. Eight of the
people were taken blindfolded with their hands tied to the villager next to him.
There they were attacked and killed. In the same month, again, the Sri Lankan military took 57 young men after rounding up the village. The young men were taken to the adjacent villages where they were shot and killed and put in mass graves and burnt.
In total 137 people were killed over these two days. The arrests and killing continued for several months after on a daily basis.
Nallaiah Kamalanathan says, “We thought that if everyone stood in one place the Army would not kill us. So, all the villagers ran for safety into the temple. Within one week we had run to the th th temple twice. First it was on the 20 of July of 1990 and then again on the 27 .
Sithandi villagers and Mavadivembu villagers all ran to this temple.
The SLA surrounded the temple. They came along with Sinhala mobs. Everyone in the temple was asked to stand in line and they picked out the young boys. Everyone stood trembling. As each one of the boys were picked, their families, mothers and fathers, all screamed. They begged for mercy with their hands. They pleaded sayingththeir difficulties. Nothing went into the ears of the Army. On the 20 , 80 people were taken away in their vehicle. On the 27th, 57 people were taken away. 2 days after this, all their parents went to all the Army Camps in search for them.
Everyone denied taking the boys. Only a week later, we found out that they had killed everyone that they had taken away. We thought they would leave them after investigation. The 137 people that were taken away were taken by bus to a Sinhalese village. There they were asked to stand in a line. The Army announced to the Sinhala people that they had caught LTTE members. Then they were shot dead. Their bodies were never returned to us. Till this day, their mothers still cry not knowing what had happened to their children. The SLA, who denied without batting an eyelid that they did not catch or kill anyone, will one day be destroyed.”
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