thiviyan@cis.ohio-state.edu (varatharasa thiviyanathan) (06/16/91)
==================================================================== From: bgsuvax!thiviyan@cis.ohio-state.edu (varatharasa thiviyanathan) Copyright, 1991. The Associated Press. All rights reserved. By PATRICK CRUEZ Associated Press Writer ==================================================================== COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- The military on Friday relieved the command of the officer whose troops are accused of killing of as many as 200 Tamil civilians. The president promised a full investigation. A team of army doctors and a coroner flew to eastern Sri Lanka to investigate the reports of massacres Thurs- day in the villages of Makiladitivu and Munaikkadu. Accounts from local residents and clergy indicated the troops ransacked the villages to avenge the killings of three soldiers a day before. A Red Cross official in Batticaloa, speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that up to 200 people had been killed. President Ranasinghe Premadasa's secretary wrote a condolence letter to a Tamil lawmaker, expressing the president's shock and sorrow at the "gruesome killing of a large number of innocent civilians." The letter promised a just and speedy inquiry. It was the first time a high official had expressed such sentiments for civilian victims of Tamil origin in the island country. In the past, leaders have mourned only the killings of the majority Sinhalese by rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east. The Tigers have been fighting government troops for the past eight years. At least 17,000 people have been killed. The presidential aide, K.H.A. Wijeyadasa, instructed the Defense Ministry to conduct an inquiry, perform autopsies on the bodies, issue death certificates without delay and provide relief to the families of the victims. The deputy defense secretary, Air Chief Marshal Walter Fernando, said the officer in charge of government troops responsible for the alleged massacre had been relieved of his command Friday. He declined to give the name or rank of the army officer and said only that it was normal pro- cedure to remove an officer from his command in cases where an investigation has been ordered. The villages are near Batti- caloa, 120 miles northeast of Colombo. In a telephone interview with the Associated Press, a rebel spokesman in London accused government forces of committing greater massacres on Tamil villagers. The spokesman, Anton Rajah, accused an army officer, Maj. Cyril Wydiyaratne, of the alleged killings, saying Wydiyaratne was recently put in charge of the northeast province and that "he is famous for such actions." Rajah said that three years ago Wydiyaratne had used the same technique against Sinhalese linked to the Peoples' Liberation Front, a Sinhalese nationalist group whose members were slaughtered in large numbers. Tamils make up 18 percent of Sri Lanka's 16 million people. The Tigers rebel group seeks an independent homeland for the Tam- ils in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, where most of them live. The dominant Sinhalese ethnic group controls the government and the military. ================================================================= FOUR MAJOR TAMIL PARTIES IN SRI LANKA DEMAND PROBE ... COLOMBO (JUNE 14) DPA - Four major Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka demanded Friday the government hold an impartial inquiry into an alleged massacre two days earlier of 150 civilians by government troops. A central committee member of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), Abu Yusuf, said the Tamil parties would be meeting President Ranasinghe Premadasa to demand the inquiry and insist those responsible be punished. The parties claimed more than 150 Tamil civilians including women and children were shot and hacked to death in the eastern Batti- caloa district on Wednesday. The army is alleged to have gone on the rampage after a land mine exploded by suspected rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) killed six soldiers. The Batticaloa member of parliament from the moderate Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Joseph Pararajasingham, met a presiden- tial advisor, Bradman Weerakoon, on Thursday and lodged his pro- test about the incident. Weerakoon promised an inquiry would be held. The military in Colombo confirmed that there had been "an incident" following the mine explosion in Kokadicholai village, ten kilometers south of Batticaloa town, but said they were unaware of the nature of the incident. The other two parties expected to approach the president are the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and the People's Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) which have deployed fighters to assist government troops battling the LTTE. The government meanwhile clamped an indefinite curfew on three districts of Northern Lanka as troops launched a fresh offensive against the LTTE in Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and Mannar, military sources said. The curfew came into effect at 6 a.m. local time. There have been no major operations against the rebels in these areas for two weeks. The military seized a large network of bunkers, camps and hideouts in eastern Sri Lanka in an operation which had been continuing since Sunday, the military sources said. Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa on Friday called for an immediate report on the alleged massacre by government troops in the eastern province of 150 Tamil civilians. The president directed the army commander to submit the report as soon as pos- sible, official sources said. Prime Minister Dingiri Banda Wijetunga will on Saturday be visiting the three villages in the Batticaloa district where the civilians were shot and hacked to death following a land mine explosion believed caused by suspected rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Wednesday. ================= End Of Article =================