| October 1995 Eastern Sri Lanka massacres | |
| Location: | Eastern Province, Sri Lanka |
| Target: | Sinhalese civilians |
| Date: | October 1995 |
| Timezone: | +8 GMT |
| Type: | Mass murder |
| Fatalities: | 120[1] |
| Injuries: | Unknown |
| Perps: | Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam |
The October 1995 Eastern Sri Lanka massacres were a series of massacres of the Sinhalese population in the Eastern Province carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the Sri Lankan Civil War.
These massacres occurred at small villages in the Eastern Province.[2] According to Sri Lankan academic Asoka Bandarage, the reason behind the massacres was alleged to be the ethnic cleansing of Sinhalese in the region.[3] The Sri Lankan Army claimed that the massacres were designed to divert the Army's attention away from its offensive in Jaffna.[4]
On October 21, at Boatte, the LTTE had intruded the village at night and hacked to death the sleeping villagers. 26 Sinhalese and 10 Tamils were killed. Another two villages were attacked that day, and in total, 71 were killed.[5]
The next day, the LTTE had invaded Kotiyagala and massacred 19 Sinhalese. One boy had been beheaded and another had his arms dismembered.[5]
By the end of the violence, 120 Sinhalese civilians were killed. Many of the victims were hacked to death with swords and axes. According to the U.S. Department of State, the LTTE also raped a number of women as a terror tactic.