Madhu church, Mannar, is a St. Mary’s Catholic Church and is popular among all ethnic communities in the area. During the 1990s following theSLAFs attacks several people from Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya were
displaced to the church’s surroundings, as it was considered a safe refuge.
On 20th November 1999, the SLAFs wereadvancing through the forest towards the
church and continually firing theirweapons. As a result, people in thevillages, such as Palampuddi, also
displaced to the surroundings of Madhuchurch. When the SLAFs arrived they
forced all the civilians to go to the church.At 9.45 pm the SLAFs started shelling.
Two of the shells fell on the banyan tree infront of the church. The third shell fell on the church. 31 people including
children died. Nine more people died in the hospital. More than 60 wereinjured. Chandrasekumaran Amarasingam was in the Madhu Church whenthe shelling started. His account of the incident is as follows,
“I had been living in Thathinapuram Palampuddi for a long time. On thatday, the SLA told us to go to Madhu Church and they will look after usthere. This message was conveyed to us through UNHCR. So we all went to
the Temple. Once there we were told to go in and then go out again a few
times. There were so manypeople at the temple. Finally theSLA made us all go into the
Temple and then closed us in.The SLA came downPandivirichchan Road inarmoured vehicles and tanks. On
that road there was a vehiclethat belonged to a poor man whohad brought people from
Karadiyanaru to Madhu Temple. The SLA destroyed the vehicle completely.Once they arrived, they surrounded the Church. They killed and hit a fewpeople. Inside they hit people. Around 9:45, we were listening to BBC on
the radio; the first shell fell on the place where the sisters were sleeping.The other fell in front of the temple on the banyan tree. The next one fell onmy temple. The fourth shell fell on my head. The roof frame fell down and
instantly killed about twenty one people all around me and then there wassilence. We all saw this shell come from the Divisional Secretariat.We did not know what to do. Around 1.00 pm, I was taken in an SLA vehicle
to the hospital. I regained consciousness after 25 days.My mother, and elder sister, uncles, cousins all died that day. The GS helped us to find out what happened to everyone. There were people from Vavuniya and some from Murunkan who died. The rest were all from this area and were all from our family.
Available names of victims (name, occupation, age)
1. Nikkalasjud Jalini, Teacher, 25
2. Sooriyakumar Suganthan, Farmer, 22
3. Inthiramohan Thadshajini, Student, 13
4. Kalithasan Selvakumary, House wife, 22
5. Kiresu Selvarasa, Farmer, 39
6. Kunaveerasingham, House wife, 22
7. Kunaveerasingham Suganja, -, 09
8. Tharmalingham Tharmaneethan, Student, 10
9. Tharmalingham Shanthakeethan, Infant, 04
10. Thisaiveerasingham Mathyrajah, Infant, 03
11. Muniyandi Uthayakumar, Farmer, 22
12. Muniyandi Selvam, House wife, 55
13. Selvarasa Nirajah, Student. 09
14. Selvarasa Rathan, Student, 12
15. Veluppillai Tharmalingham, -, 44
16. Santhiramohan Papitharan, Student, 06
17. Santhiramohan Sujitharan, Student, 09
18. Santhiramohan Suthakaran, Student, 09
19. Santhiramohan Poomani, House wife, 61
20. Sivanantham Suganthini, House wife, 22
21. Sripaskaran Mainthini, Infant, 03
22. Egamparam Rameswary, House wife, 52
23. Variththamby Pavani, Student, 17
24. Sathasivam Mannan, – , 21
25. Sooriyakumar Suganthy, House wife, 23
26. Navaratnam Rajeswary, House wife, 58
27. Kanagaratnam Variththamby, Farmer, 54
28. Karunairasa Kapaskar, Student, 15
29. Karunairasa Theivanai, House wife, 49
30. Kunaveerasingham Logeswary, Student, 10
31. Kunaveerasingham Suveniya, Student, 20
32. Thampappillai Thesaiveerasingham, Farmer, 46
33. Thesaiveerasingham Mathyrajah, Infant, 03
34. Thesaiveerasingham Ampigavathy, House wife, 37
35. Muthiah Sivanantham, Farmer, 26
36. Jeyaram Jeyaseelan, Student, 18
