By U. H. Hyder Ali –
U.H. Hyder Ali
On August 3, 1990, one of the darkest chapters in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict unfolded when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out a brutal massacre at the Kattankudy Mosque in Eastern Province. Over 147 Muslim worshipperswere mercilessly gunned down while offering their prayers in what remains one of the most horrific attacks against the Muslim community in Sri Lanka.
The Attack: A Night of Horror
That evening, as devout Muslims gathered for Isha prayers, LTTE militants stormed the mosque and opened fire indiscriminately. The attackers showed no mercy—men, elderly worshippers, and even young boys were slaughtered in cold blood. Survivors recounted scenes of unimaginable terror as the militants ensured no one escaped alive. The massacre was part of a broader campaign of ethnic cleansing by the LTTE, which sought to expel Muslims from areas they claimed as part of a Tamil homeland.
Kattankudy Mosque killings
Why Did the LTTE Target Muslims?
The LTTE, fighting for an independent Tamil state, viewed Muslims as obstacles to their goal. In 1990, they forcibly expelled over 75,000 Muslims from the Northern Province and carried out systematic attacks against Muslim villages in the East. The Kattankudy massacre was a calculated act of terror to instill fear and drive Muslims out of the region.
A Wound That Never Fully Heals
For Sri Lankan Muslims, August 3rd is a day of mourning and remembrance. While the teachings of Islam emphasize forgiveness, the pain of such brutality cannot be erased from memory. The survivors and families of the victims continue to live with the trauma, and the massacre remains a stark reminder of the consequences of ethnic hatred.
Here is a polished English translation of your Tamil text, maintaining its gravity and nuanced questioning while using formal, precise language:
These massacres continue to raise profound doubts for us today.
In the Eastern Province, at a time when Tamil militant groups —some maintaining close ties with the government military, STF, and state intelligence units, and others actively opposing the LTTE —had surrounded Kattankudy, how did the LTTE bypass all these factions and security forces, enter the Kattankudy mosque, massacre Muslims, loot valuables, and withdraw safely?
Just as I harbor serious doubts that government high officials may have indirectly assisted the LTTE in the Eastern killings of 800 police officers, equally grave suspicions arise regarding these massacres of Muslim civilians.
Was this a coordinated slaughter between the then-Sri Lankan government and the LTTE? The circumstances demand rigorous investigation.
A Call for Justice and Unity
Decades later, justice for the victims remains elusive. The LTTE’s leadership was wiped out in 2009, but the scars of their atrocities linger. The Muslim community, while resilient, continues to seek recognition of their suffering and a commitment from all Sri Lankans to ensure such horrors are never repeated.
We may forgive, but we will never forget.
This massacre stands as a testament to the need for reconciliation, justice, and a united Sri Lanka where no community suffers such brutality again. The memory of Kattankudy must serve as a lesson for future generations—a warning against division and a call for lasting peace.
Remembering the Martyrs of Kattankudi – August 3, 1990
Svenson / August 5, 2025
It was an attempt to clear all Muslims out of the North and East. If the Sinhalese had done this it would be called genocide.
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SJ / August 5, 2025
Whoever did such things, it is mass murder. Genocide takes more to qualify for.
BTW
If you think that it is genocide, will you concede that what SB racists did to Tamils and Muslims since 1956 was genocide?
People living in glass houses….
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Rohan25 / August 5, 2025
The deliberate killing of any innocent, be they Tamil, Sinhalese or Muslim, must be investigated and the actual perpetrators punished. However, like the author of this article stated, who were the actual perpetrators of this horrible massacre deliberately done to create fear, hatred and a rift between the two major Tamil communities in the east, the native indigenous Eelam Tamils and the Muslims. This mosque was the headquarters of Muslim home guards and who were in conjunction with the Mossad, trained Sri Lankan STF and Tamil Paramilitary forces, and they were all surrounding and guarding this vicinity. How did the LTTE, which has so far refuted and denied that it had anything to do with the Kattankudi mosque massacre, manage to get in? Not one, but 30 of them, heavily armed too. It has now been revealed that Mossad trained and heavily armed Muslim homeguards and the Sri Lankan STF and Tamil Guerrilla groups that were working with the Sri Lankan state, as well as many eastern Muslim politicians, deliberately created hatred and violence between the eastern Tamils and Muslims to divide these two Tamil-speaking people and to see that they will not unite.
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Rohan25 / August 5, 2025
They have now been found to have been responsible for most of the violence, burning, looting and ethnic cleansing of Tamil villages and Hindu temples, then doing the same thing in Muslim villages and killing innocent Tamils and dumping them in Muslim villages and vice versa. The Mossad helped the Muslims in the east to commit atrocities, and now, most probably as payback have come to Arugam Bay in hordes, and the local Muslims are unable to do anything. The LTTE had owned up to the Central Bank bombing, the chasing of Muslims from the north, and Rajiv’s assassination, but never to the most to atrocities in the east or to the Kattankudi mosque massacre. Even the deliberate killing of innocent Sinhalese bus passengers around Kekirawa or Kebitigollawa, which was blamed on the LTTE, was later found out to be the work of the STF to deliberately create problems and discredit the STF.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk3H1wwGmUc&t=7s
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RBH59 / August 6, 2025
The real truth
remains obscured by political silence and inadequate investigation. The past governments, including the one in power at the time of the attack, were widely criticized for their failure to conduct a transparent and thorough inquiry. Although there were public condemnations and the promise of justice, no independent commission was formed to pursue accountability
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