Pesalai Church attack

Pesalai church attack happened on June 17, 2006 Our lady ofheart church Pesalai village in Mannar Island. Six civilians werekilled and at least 47 were injured in the attack. The eyewitnessaccused the governmental troops for this attack. cite news | title= Sri Lankan forces 'target church' | date=2007-07-06 | publisher=BBC | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5091320.stm| work = | accessdate = 2007-07-06 ] cite news | title= Sri Lanka villagers in shock, panic after church attack| date=2007-07-06 | publisher=iht | url =http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/18/news/web.0618lanka.php| work = | accessdate = 2007-07-06 ] The Sri Lankan Navy has denied this and has counter accused the rebel LTTEas being the responsible party. Government of Sri Lanka instituted aninvestigation in to this incident and has identified the responsibleparty.cite news | title= Pesalai church attack: Wrongdoers identified| date=2007-07-06 | publisher=dailymirror | url =http://www.dailymirror.lk/2006/07/07/front/03.asp| work = Poorna Rodrigo | accessdate = 2007-07-06 ]

Background

Mannar District is in the north-west of Sri Lanka and is one of the least developed districts in the country. It has a substantial Catholic and Muslim population. Pesalai has the largest Catholic community in the Mannar District. As it is a costal helmet, there had been many clashes between LTTE and Sri Lankan Navy there. Particularly on June 17, 2006 the Sri Lankan Navy and LTTE clashed in thesea during the early-morning. As a result 30 people were said to bedead. Consequently, 200 people took shelter at the "Our lady of heartchurch". These people took refuge in the church amid fear of theviolence escalating. An earlier incident , where the confrontationbetween LTTE and Sri Lankan Army destroyed many houses, alsoadded to the fear of the people. cite news | title= SRI LANKA: Report of the Fact Finding Mission to Pesalai by the CPA and INFORM| date=2007-07-06 | publisher=| url =http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/623/| work = | accessdate = 2007-07-06 ]

Attack on the Church

Survivors and witnesses of attack claimed that a group of armed men inshorts and blue t-shirts shot indiscriminately at houses. Later somemore men came and shot at the church for about 10 minutes. Then the menreportedly rolled two grenades into the church. One grenade hit a window and ricocheted back. To ensure that the second had more of an impact, an attacker put his hand through one window that had not been properly shut and rolled it along the ground into the most populated area of the Church. Finally,they moved to the front of the church and shot before leaving. Thisattack left 47 people injured.

Further attack

The survivors also claimed that the navy had walked down the village indiscriminately shooting at the houses. In addition to the damages to the houses, a further 40 boats and 45 wadiyas were destroyed in the incident, and people estimate that their losses will exceed 50 million rupees. The burning of the boats dealt a major blow to the village as most of the population relied on fishing for income. The attack on the surrounding villages left 4 more fishermen dead. All of them were shot through the mouth and killed on the beach. Remains of one more man was found in a burned boat. Many huts were also burned. cite news | title= Catholic church attacked; bishop accuses navy| date=2007-07-21 | publisher= | url =http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/globalpers/gp062006.htm| work =| accessdate = 2007-07-21 ]

Reactions

The eyewitness of the attack has accused the Sri Lankan Navy andwas confirmed by an international aid worker.However, the Sri Lankan ministry first claimed that the church was caught in the middle of a firefight. Later, the defense ministry website has denied this accusation andinstead blamed the LTTE for this attack. The Sri Lankan ministry ofdefense website also accused the local Roman Catholic bishop RayappuJoseph as pro-rebel. cite news | title= The Road to Pesalai Attack | date=2007-07-06 | publisher= Official Srilankan army website | url =http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20060627_03| work =| accessdate = 2007-07-06 ] The president of the country instituted aninvestigation in to this incident.cite news | title= Probe on Pesalai church attack | date=2007-07-06 | publisher= | url =http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2006/6/7433.html| work =| accessdate = 2007-07-06 ] and the investigation identified the responsible parties.

Bishop Rayappu Joshep, in a letter to the Vatican, claimed that the Church "has been desecrated by innocent blood being shed [in it] by unjust aggressors, the Sri Lanka Navy". He further added "Today I buried the six civilians murdered by the Navy at Pesalai yesterday" cite news | title= Bishop Rayappu Joseph's letter | date=2007-07-05 | publisher=Tamilnet | url =http://www.tamilnet.com/img/publish/2006/06/MannarBishop_01.pdf| work =| accessdate = 2007-07-05 ] Bishop Rauappu accused the navy for the disappearance of 4 people , including three-year-old child, on December 23, 2006. A priest from the diocese also claimed “From what I heard from reliable sources, the hand grenade lobbed inside the church was indeed thrown by a member of the navy.”

ee also

*Navaly Church bombing
*Eastern University massacre
*1990 Batticaloa massacre
*Mylanthanai massacre
*Kumarapuram massacre
*Tampalakamam massacre
*Kattankudi mosque massacre
*Prawn farm massacre

References

External links

* [http://www.dailymirror.lk/2006/12/13/feat/03.asp Killing match in Lanka]
* [http://hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/srilanka0906/7.htm Promoting Adherence to International Human Rights Standards]