Kumudini boat massacre

Kumudini boat massacre
A jetty from which ferry boats are launched to neighboring islands in the North of Sri Lanka. This jetty was renamed Kumuthini Jetty in memory of the victims of the massacre.
Location	island of Delft, Jaffna District, Sri Lanka
Date	May 15, 1985 (+6 GMT)
Target	Sri Lankan Tamil village residents
Attack type	Armed massacre
Weapons	Automatic rifles, Knives, axes
Deaths	23
Perpetrators	Sri Lankan Navy

The Kumudini or Kumuthini boat massacre (Tamil: குமுதினி படகுப் படுகொலைகள்) happened on 15 May 1985, when at least 23 minority Sri Lankan Tamil adults and children on a ferry boat named Kumudini sailing from the island of Delft to the island of Nainathivu were killed by Sri Lankan Navy personnel.

According to eyewitness accounts, six men believed to be from the Sri Lanka navy, dressed in T-shirts and blue trousers and some in shorts, boarded the ferry. One by one, the passengers were called to the aft section of the boat, told to shout their name, age, address, and the destination of their journey, and then hacked to death.^[1][2]

The attack came on the heels of the Anuradhapura massacre, where 146 Sinhalese civilians were gunned down by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in revenge for the 1985 Valvettiturai massacre.^[3] In the ensuing weeks, dozens more Tamil civilians were also killed.^[3]