What Happened
Vaddakandal is situated in the Mannar district and it is a farming area. On 30.01.1985, around 5:00am, 200 Sri Lankan military men from the Thallady camp moved into the Vaddakandal village.
At 6:30 am they entered the homes of the villagers and began shooting and stabbing people. Sri Lankan Air Force helicopters also strafed the village. The military entered the Vaddakandal Government Tamil Mixed School and attacked the principal, teachers and students. Eighteen people were killed in the school.
While this killing was going on, the military also attacked people working in the fields and people on the street. This attack went on for six hours. At 2:00pm the military ordered the people to load dead bodies into military vehicles. 52 people died and 40 were injured.
Eyewitness: "They did not worry about a person's age. Young or old – they were all shot and killed that day. They went into the paddy fields and picked up people with both hands, held them up and shot them for others to see. At the school there were about 250 children studying. They dragged the principal and all the teachers out, tortured and shot them in front of the villagers. 18 people were shot there. Mayilvaganam Ganesh was made to shoot his cousin and asked to drink his blood."
Perpetrators
Sri Lankan Army
Sources & References
- NESOHR - Lest We Forget Volume I