What Happened
Paddithidal is a Tamil village situated 10 Kms from Mutur in Trincomalee. From the beginning of 1987 there were military attacks in the area.
On 26.04.1987, there were clashes between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE near the Mallikaithivu junction. Three Sri Lankan military personnel were killed. To take revenge, the military entered the Paddithidal village and searched. People had already left suspecting the military will attack civilians.
One Christian family of 16 members was praying as they continued to stay in the village. The military opened fire at those praying. They burnt the people still struggling after the shooting. All 16 members of the family were killed. Three babies and several children were among those killed. One family member escaped death.
Survivor Ulaganathan: "On Sunday 24th April 1987, I went to church on my own. On the way back I saw that the families in the village were running and hiding. I ran back to my house and saw that my house was burning. Every single person in my family was dead. My wife, 2 daughters, big brother, his wife, his 5 kids, my wife's big sister and 3 kids, my mother and my younger sister were all in there.
I tried to kill myself in the fire - but two people grabbed me. I returned the next day. My youngest daughter looked like she had been eating rice at the time. She was leaning against the door with a bullet through her head. There was no one left in the village. I put all the bodies in a cart, took them to a forest, dug a big pit, and covered them all up with sand.
My elder aunty told me: Before the army got there, they all took out their identity cards. The army did not even look at their identity cards. The army shot everyone. She could hear people pleading to not be killed and then there was silence."
Perpetrators
Sri Lankan Army
Sources & References
- NESOHR - Lest We Forget Volume I