Date | Attack | Location | Sinhalese | Tamils | Muslims | Death toll | Sources |
4 February | Manthottam massacre: The village of Manthottam, which is mostly made up of Sinhalese, was attacked by a group of 50 armed LTTE cadres, who murdered eight villagers after brutally torturing them. The death toll was reduced since villagers had hid in the surrounding jungles anticipating such an attack. | Manthottam, Mannar District | 8 | - | - | 8 | [10] |
7 February | Arantalawa massacre: In a night house-to-house raid LTTE cadres armed with swords, machetes, clubs and small-arms killed 27 to 28 civilians including children and women. Pregnant mothers were found hacked to death and with their necks slashed. | Arantalawa, Ampara District | ? | ? | ? | 27-28 | [3][10] |
7 March | Awarantalawa massacre: Six civilians were killed when the LTTE detonated a land-mine as troops were passing. Also killed were seven soldiers and four NAF soldiers. | Awarantalawa, Vavuniya District | ? | ? | ? | 17 | [3][10] |
22 March | Serunuwara Horowpathana massacre: LTTE cadres shot dead 26 Sinhalese villagers. | Serunuwara Horowpathana | 26 | ? | ? | 26 | [3][10] |
25 March | Serunuwara massacre: Armed LTTE cadres stormed Serunuwara village, mostly inhabited by Sinhalese, and herded the farming families at gunpoint to a road. They were then shot there in execution style. In total 25 villagers were killed, most of whom were women and children. | Serunuwara, Trincomalee District | 25 | - | - | 25 | [10] |
17 April | Aluth Oya massacre: LTTE cadres shot dead 127 Sinhalese civilians, including 31 police and security force personnel who were travelling in 3 buses and 2 trucks to Trincomalee. The cadres clad in military uniforms stopped the vehicles and dragged out the passengers and shot them to death with automatic weapons after brutally assaulting them with clubs. Over 70 with injuries were air lifted. The dead included many children and 12 off duty security personnel. Most of the victims were families visiting their relatives for the new year. | Aluth oya, Habarana, Anuradhapura District | 127 | - | - | 127 | [3][11] |
20 April | Jayanthipura Massacre: The majority Sinhalese village of Jayanthipura was raided by a group of armed LTTE who murdered 15 civilians including women and children. | Jayanthipura, Polonnaruwa District | 15 | - | - | 15 | [10] |
21 April | Central Bus Station Bombing: A bomb detonated by militants at the central bus terminal of Colombo killed 113 civilians, two policemen and a soldier; 298 others were injured. Both the LTTE and EROS were blamed for the attack. | Pettah, Colombo District | ? | ? | ? | 116 | [10][12][13] |
21 April | Jayanthipura massacre: 15 Sinhalese villagers were shot dead by LTTE cadres. | Jayanthipura, Trincomalee District | 15 | ? | ? | 15 | [10] |
29 May | Attack on Kadawathmadu: A group of armed LTTE cadres raided the majority Sinhalese village of Kadawathmadu killing seven civilians and leaving five others injured. Due to the LTTE threat, the villagers slept in jungle hideouts during the night, which reduced the casualties. | Kadawathmadu, Polonnaruwa District | 7 | - | - | 7 | [3][10] |
2 June | Aranthalawa Massacre: In the first massacre of Buddhist monks in modern Sri Lankan history, a bus carrying Buddhist monks was stopped by LTTE in Arantalawa. 32 Buddhist monks, including Chief Priest Ven. Hegoda Indrasara, were killed with only one monk surviving. | Arantalawa | 32 | - | - | 32 | [10][14] |
5 June | Nelliady attack: In the first suicide attack by the LTTE Black Tigers, a small truck laden with explosives was driven into a Sri Lanka Army base in Nelliady, Jaffna peninsula by Vallipuram Vasanthan. Over 50 soldiers were killed along with Vasanthan. | Nelliady, Jaffna District | 50 | - | - | 50 | [10] |
11 June | Veppankulam attack: 13 civilians and a soldier were killed when a private van en route from Horowpathana to Trincomalee was blowup by a LTTE pressure mine. | Veppankulam, Trincomalee District | ? | ? | ? | 14 | [3][10] |
12 June | Godapotta massacre: A meeting to discuss a new temple was attacked by the LTTE, who surrounded the temple and attacked the gathering of over 175 villagers, resulting in the deaths of eight villagers; a soldier and six people were injured. | Godapotta, Polonnaruwa District | ? | ? | ? | 9 | [3][10] |
21 June | Godapotta massacre: The hamlet of Godapotha, a majority Sinhalese village in Polonnaruwa was raided by a group of armed LTTE cadres, killing eight villagers and injuring one. The death toll was reduced since villagers had hid in the surrounding jungles anticipating such an attack. | Godapotha, Polonnaruwa District | ? | ? | ? | 8 | [10] |
29 July | Thoppur massacre: Nine villagers were killed after being tortured by LTTE cadres armed with swords, machetes and small arms. | Thoppur, Jaffna District | ? | ? | ? | 9 | [10] |
6 October | Batticaloa: 18 Sinhalese civilians were shot dead by LTTE cadres. | Batticaloa, Batticaloa District | 18 | - | - | 18 | [3][10] |
6 October | Tharavi massacre: Tharavi, a majority Sinhalese village, was stormed by over 100 LTTE cadres armed with swords, machetes and small arms, who killed 25 civilians, mostly women and children including infants and pregnant mothers. | Tharavi, Batticaloa District | 25 | - | - | 25 | [3][10] |
6 October | Sagarapura massacre: A house-to-house massacre was carried out by LTTE cadres, clubbing children to death in front of their parents, and hacking the adults to death using sharp weapons. 27 Sinhalese villagers were shot dead. After looting their victims' homes, these were set alight, burning the wounded victims alive. Another six villagers survived the attack with serious cut wounds. | Sagarapura, Trincomalee District | 27 | - | - | 27 | [3][10] |
6 October | Valaichchenai massacre: 40 Sinhalese passengers in the night-mail train from Batticaloa were killed by LTTE cadres who stopped the train. | Valaichchenai, Batticaloa District | 40 | - | - | 40 | [3][10] |
7 October | Pottuvil Monargala Road massacre: 25 Sinhalese passengers travelling by bus were shot dead by LTTE cadres, who also killed five motorcyclists travelling along the same route. | Pottuvil, Ampara District | ? | ? | ? | 30 | [3][10] |
10 October | Ganthalawa massacre: Gantalawa hamlet in Kantala was attacked and 9-10 civilians murdered with three wounded by LTTE cadres armed with swords, machetes and small arms. | Ganthalawa | 9-10 | - | - | 9-10 | [3][10] |
15 October | Ella Kantalai massacre: Ella Kantalai, a majority Sinhalese village, was attacked by LTTE cadres armed with swords, machetes and small arms, killing 14 civilians including women and children. | Ella Kantalai, Trincomalee District | 14 | - | - | 14 | [10] |
16 October | Pulimodai massacre: A private bus was stopped by LTTE cadres, who removed the Sinhalese people killing 11 including three policemen. | Pulimodai, Trincomalee District | 11 | - | - | 11 | [3][10] |
19 October | Kalkudah attack: A private bus transporting Tamil passengers was blown up by a LTTE land-mine, killing 40 persons and an IPKF soldier | Kalkudah, Batticaloa District | ? | ? | ? | 41 | [3][10] |
9 November | Maradana bombing: 23 civilians were killed and 106 injured by LTTE cadres who exploded a bomb, another 15 were shot dead. | Maradana, Colombo District | ? | ? | ? | 38 | [10] |
11 November | Kalkuda massacre: Seven Sinhalese people selling fish were shot dead by LTTE cadres. | Kalkudah, Batticaloa District | 7 | - | - | 7 | [3][10] |
12 November | Cheddikulam massacre: 12 Tamil persons and 13 PLOTE members were killed when their van was blown up by an LTTE land-mine. | Cheddikulam, Vavuniya District | - | 24 | - | 24 | [3][10] |
15 December | Devalagodella massacre: Devalagodella and Somavathiya villages were attacked by LTTE cadres armed with small arms and sharp weapons, killing 7-9 civilians. | Devalagodella, Polonnaruwa District | ? | ? | ? | 9 | [3][10] |
22 December | Morawewa massacre: 5-6 Sinhalese and a Tamil were abducted and tortured to death by LTTE cadres. | Morawewa, Trincomalee District | 5 | 1 | - | 6 | [3][10] |
31 December | Mahadivulwewa massacre: 10 villagers were shot dead and 15 houses burnt by LTTE cadres. | Mahadivulwewa, Trincomalee District | ? | ? | ? | 10 | [3][10] |
31 December | Kathankadu massacre: The Muslim majority village of Kathankadu is raided by LTTE cadres armed with sharp weapons and small arms, who carried out the killing of 30 civilians, including women and children with bodies severely mutilated. | Kathankadu, Batticaloa District | - | - | 30 | 30 | [10] |