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Mannar massacre: Police say family defied LTTE orders

Police probing Friday’s massacre of a family of four in Mannar claimed yesterday the LTTE carried out the barbaric act because they refused to take part in claymore mine attacks aimed at army vehicles and tipped off the security forces about the whereabouts of a Tiger bomb expert.

“Our investigations show that Moorthy Martin had been approached by the LTTE several times to plant a claymore mine on the Vankalia road to destroy an Army convoy that passed that area frequently as his house is at the end of the road.

“Despite the threats, he had refused to comply with the LTTE. He was later approached by an explosives expert of the LTTE identified as Kundudasan.

“But he had tipped off the army about Kundudasan’s whereabouts. Kundudasan’s body was later found on the Mannar coast,” Mannar’s Senior Superintendent L.B.A Tennakoon said. The assailants had come around midnight and had hacked the family to death. The body of the farther and the two children killed were found hung on the ceiling while the mother lay dead on the ground.

The victims were identified as Moorthy Martin (35), Marry Madeline (27), their daughter Anne Nixon (9) and son A. Luxica (7).

The family, once displaced as refugees in India, had returned during the Ceasefire and resettled in the village, residents told the police.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday night expressed great concern over the killing as it had occurred in the government-controlled area and ordered a full investigation into the incident.

The pro-LTTE TamilNet, meanwhile blamed the security forces for the killing.
The funerals were held in Mannar last evening.

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