Goni Billa identifies 'informants':

LTTE massacres over 100 Muslims in Mutur

by Ranga Jayasuriya

The LTTE massacred over hundred civilians who were fleeing fighting in Mutur, according to reports reaching to Colombo from Pachchanoor, South of Mutur.

These reports said over 100 bodies of civilians laid scattered in Pachchanoor, where the LTTE installed a road block until Friday night.

A military official quoting an eye witness told the Sunday Observer, that the LTTE had arrested fleeing Muslims at Pachchanoor and taken them before a hooded man(Goni Billa).

The hooded man was tasked to ascertain if these civilians were connected to the security forces.

Those civilians identified by the hooded man were then taken away with their hands tied. According to the eye witness reports, civilians had protested against such arrests and some had managed to escape.

At that juncture, the young LTTE cadres manning the check point fired at them indiscriminately, killing 17 civilians on the spot, eye witness reports said.

There were 48 civilians arrested by the Tigers at the time disturbance took place. Their fate is not known.

The website of the National Security Ministry reported that LTTE had killed over 100 Muslims, including women and children, after accusing them of conniving with the security forces.

Meanwhile, according to another eye witness, who spoke to our photo journalist who visited Mutur yesterday, the LTTE had arrested at least sixty Muslim civilians on Friday. Twelve of them were shot dead instantly. The fate of the remaining detainees were not known.

According to Military sources, most civilians who have been arrested by the LTTE had been supplying fish and other food commodities to the local security forces detachments.

"Ninety Nine per cent of the civilian population in Mutur is cordial with the security forces," claimed a military official.

National Security spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella described the massacre as manifesting the sheer brutality of LTTE terrorism.

SLMM spokesman Robert Nilsson told the truce monitors were informed of the massacre and attempts to visit the scene proved futile as the area had been heavily mined.