A disputed 2006 incident in which around 45 Tamil civilians died amid conflicting accounts of LTTE artillery use near a refugee shelter.
Key Facts
- Date
- November 7, 2006
- Civilians killed
- ~45
- Injured
- Over 100
- Time of incident
- Approximately 11:35 a.m.
- Location
- Near Kathiraveli, Batticaloa district, eastern Sri Lanka
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
During the ongoing Sri Lankan civil war, Tamil refugees displaced by fighting had taken shelter at a school near Kathiraveli in the Vaharai peninsula. According to some survivors interviewed by Reuters, LTTE forces fired artillery at Sri Lankan military personnel from close to this school, though the LTTE and witnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch disputed this account.
On November 7, 2006, at approximately 11:35 a.m., the Sri Lankan Army returned fire near the school sheltering Tamil civilian refugees. The exchange resulted in approximately 45 civilian deaths, with over 100 more wounded and admitted to local hospitals, making it a deeply contested episode of the civil war.
The incident drew international attention due to conflicting testimonies from survivors, the LTTE, and human rights investigators, highlighting the difficulty of establishing accountability in civilian casualty events during the Sri Lankan civil war. Human Rights Watch's contradictory findings deepened controversy over responsibility for the deaths.