Claymore attack on children’s bus
On that fatal day of 29 January 2008, the children and others from the displaced community that has taken refuge in the Madhu church complex were returning home, most of them from the Mannar Sinapandivirichchan Government Tamil Mixed School (GTMS), which is 5 Kms away. Both the children and the public take the same bus that plies between Madhu and their school as there is no school bus service. Around 2.30pm as the bus was nearing the Madhu church the claymore exploded.
20 Eelamtamils, including 11 school children, a teacher of Thadcha’naamaruthamadu Roman Catholic Tamil Mixed School, the driver, conductor and two hospital workers were killed and 14 wounded when a Deep Penetration Unit of Sri Lanka Army triggered a Claymore mine targeting the bus carrying school children in Madu division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam controlled territory.
Also important is the identification of the culprits behind the claymore attack. Mannar has seen a large number of claymore attacks from 2006 onwards. It is also common knowledge among the people of Mannar that all of these claymore attacks are carried out by the Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka military.
People have many stories of sighting small teams from this unit in the vicinity of many of these attacks a day or so earlier. Items left behind by the culprits also give clues to the identity of the culprits. Often the attackers will have to wait in hiding for long hours for their target to arrive. They therefore leave many basic items behind as they run away after the attack that sometimes give clues to the identity of the culprits.





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