Vavunikulam village is located in the Mullaithivu district. The village takes the name of the large water reservoir in the village.
Displaced people from other districts like Jaffna and Kilinochchi were living there in temporary shelters experiencing great hardship. On 26.09.1996, Sri Lankan Air Force bombed this village killing four civilians and wounding 12.
In 1997, the Sri Lankan military was on a military operation from their Omanthai camp, codenamed “Jeyasikkuru”, to take over the A9 route. The bombing and shelling were hitting the civilians. Civilians had taken refuge in schools, churches and temples.
On 15.08.1997 at 9.00am, the Vavunikulam villagers took refuge in a church in their village as the military went on an onslaught. Two bombs were dropped on this church by Sri Lankan Air Force Kfirs. 9 people were killed. 16 were seriously injured. One died in the hospital later. The Kfirs bombed the same place again at 1.00am. Eight people were injured. One of them died in the hospital later.
In total 15 civilians were killed on that day and more than 20 were injured.
Ganeshamoorthy’s account of the massacre is as follows,
“Around Friday 10 am in the morning, we heard a booming sound behind us. When we turned around we saw that there were two Kfirs in the air. Initially I thought there were crows flying behind the Kfir, however a second later I realized they were actually bombs. I fell into a stream, by which time a bomb fell. People started screaming. As I ran towards the sound, I saw flesh scattered everywhere. It looked like a like a meat shop.
The bomb fell on a small Refugee Camp at Vavunikulam Church. We informed ICRC and they came and took the injured to Mallavi hospital. Inthe evening they bombed Puthuvilamkulam. ICRC returned to take the injured. 5 or 6 people died.
All the bodies were taken on a tractor belonging to Sundarlingam and burnt. 14 people died and 23 people were injured. This bomb had dropped 200 meters from my house. Small people, old people, dogs all died. These people had been displaced and were already living in hardship when these bombs were dropped.”
This was a planned attack. There were so many places that could have been hit – but they targeted the Refugee camps. This is the worst incident that has happened at Vavunikulam, Mullaithivu District.
Available names of victims (name, occupation, age)
1. Seenithamby Vadivelu, Farmer, 51
2. Periyathamby Sinnarasa, Farmer, 67
3. Sinnarasa Puspamala, Student, 20
4. Valliar Sinnathamby, Worker, 55
5. Santhirasegaram Rajeswary, -, 32
6. Ratnasamy Sivagnanasuntharam, Pensioner, 69
7. Palaniyandi Marimuthu, Student, 18
8. Ratnam Rasakumari, House wife, 24
9. Kunaratnam Shanmugarasa, Worker, 23
10. Arulanantham Vimalanantham, Own worker, 30
11. Thesingarasa Thangamany, -, 48
12. Thesingarasa Vasanthakumary, Student, 17
13. Nadarasa Pushpamalar, -, 41
14. Nadarasa Kajan, -, 04
15. Annamalar, -, 40
16. Thurairatnam Parameswary, -, 46
17. Navaratnam Santhy, Home maker, 21
