Survivors of the 1995 Navaly church bombing, where the Sri Lankan air force killed over 140 Tamil civilians in an attack on The Church of St Peter, have continued to call for justice 23 years after the massacre reports the Union of Catholic Asian News.
The parish president of the church, Father Roy Fernandez, told ucanews.com that "Hindus and Catholics come here every year with photographs of the ones they lost.”
Father S.V.B. Mangalaraja, director of the Commission for Justice and Peace in Jaffna Diocese stated that "the government has denied responsibility for the bombing".
"The bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundaranayagam, kept raising the issue and bringing it to the attention of Sri Lankan officials and the international community, but nothing has really come of that," he added.
Other residents who survived the massacre recalled hearing “eight explosions ring out as the helicopters flew past” on the day of the attack.
Initially, President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government denied reports of the Church bombing before eventually pledging to establish an inquiry into the incident. However, the perpetrators are yet to be held accountable.
See more from ucanews.com here.
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