19 August 2006
Blaming the elite Special Task Force (STF) for the massacre of 10 young Muslim men, the Muslim community in Pottuvil is demanding the unit be transferred out and an independent inquiry be held.
Angry protestors stoned STF and police vehicles, rejecting Sri Lankan government accusations the Tamil Tigers were responsible for the killings near the Yala game reserve.
Sri Lanka's police chief, Inspector-General Chandra Fernando visited the town in the eastern Amparai district for talks with senior Muslim politicians, in a bid to defuse the tension.
Despite angry protests by residents, the government continued to blame the Tigers.
The BBC's correspondent Dumeetha Luthra in Amparai district reported that locals say there has been friction between the Muslim community and the Sri Lankan security forces.
She found that many in the town accuse the elite counter-insurgency unit, STF, of the killings, and now want the local police unit transferred immediately, along with a full investigation.
"Special Task Force (STF) troops killed these people," Muslim M.S. Mohedeen, told Reuters earlier as around 2,000 people, including women and children, gathered around the Periya Pallivasal mosque in the eastern town of Pottuvil where the bodies were laid out and incense burned to mask the stench of death.
"We don't blame anyone else," he added. "The LTTE can't come into this area. It is completely controlled by the STF. Without the STF's knowledge, no one can come into this area."
AFP also quoted local residents as telling reporters that the police commandos were at loggerheads with locals and holding the security forces responsible.
All the slain Muslims were youths below 25 years of age. Two are 15-year-old boys. All had been hacked to death. One 55 year old man survived.
The bodies of the victims were taken to Periya Pallivasal Mosque in Pottuvil.
The survivor was admitted to Amparai Hospital.
Soon after the massacre, the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry blamed the LTTE, saying: “the Tiger terrorists have massacred 11 Muslim civilians who had gone to repair an anicut.”
The LTTE denied the accusation and condemned the massacre.
"The LTTE notes that this is a Sri Lankan government controlled area and a Sri Lankan military camp is stationed near the location of the massacre," the LTTE said in a statement on its Peace Secretariat website.
"The Sri Lankan military is adopting its long tradition of blaming the LTTE for the atrocities it commits," the statement added, pointing to the massacre of 17 aid workers in August which the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) blamed on Sri Lankan troops.
Sri Lanka's biggest Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress is requesting international assistance to investigate the killing.
He told the Daily Mirror newspaper on his return from the site of the massacre that the SLMC's request for a UN sponsored investigation followed claims by civilians of the area that the massacre could not have been carried out by the LTTE.
“I cannot come to the conclusion that the LTTE did this. People of the area whom I spoke to said there was no way the LTTE could have carried out this act and instead they had their own conclusions and are demanding UN investigations. So I will be meeting the UN envoy in Colombo today to ask for assistance,” Mr. Hakeem told the paper.
The Daily Mirror's photographer who visited Pottuvil Monday echoed reports by other journalists, saying said the area was gripped by tension with civilians insisting the brutal attack was clearly the work of the security forces and not the LTTE.
In the face of public anger over the massacres, Inspector-General Fernando said the friction with the locals was over police cracking down on illegal logging in neighbouring forests.
"It is too early to point a finger," AFP quoted Fernando as telling the residents.
But in 2005, a move by Sinhala ultranationalists to install Buddha statue in Muslim post-Tsunami resettlement was opposed by the local Muslim residents.
An STF training base is located in the area, at Sasthiraveli.
The STF has been blamed the last phase of the war in the late nineties for a large number of disappearances in Amparai district. During the eighties it was blamed for several massacres in Batticaloa district also.
In the past the Tigers were also blamed for targeting Muslim homeguards who were supporting the Sri Lankan forces’ counter-insrugency efforts. The Tigers were also blamed for reprisal massacres against Muslims after Home Guards massacred Tamil villagers.
TamilNet: Police deny SLMM access to sole survivor
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