Personal data
Name
K Mary Manjula
Date of birth
1961
Age
45
Place of birth
–
Biographical details
K Mary Manjula was 45 years old at the time of her murder and lived in the town Allaipiddy in the Jaffna district. This area is under Tamil administration.
Indcident
Date
13.08.2006
Location
Allaipiddy, Jaffna
Description
Allaipiddy is one of the islets off the Jaffna coast. Following clashes between the Sri Lanka military and the LTTE near Allaipiddy, the military fired indiscriminately towards the PhilipNeri church where people had taken refuge. The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers murdered, tortured or mutilated bodies before or after the killing of 43 Tamil civilians in areas of Allaipiddy. 7 Tamil bodies were mutilated after being murdered by SLN artillery fire. The murder victims included K Mary Manjula.
One young girl who wishes to remain anonymous later wrote about her experience caught up in this shelling. According to her, they felt trapped as the shelling exploded all around them. They sought safety in the PhilipNeri church. Then the Sri Lanka Artillery (SLA) persons came to the church and promised to escort the people to Jaffna. What the SLA did was to use the people as shields and then once they neared their own camp abandoned the people who had to dodge shells and find their way back to the church. The SLA repeated this a few times before people realized what they were actually doing. A few hours later shells came directly at the church. There was fire from the naval gunboats as well. Many people were by now dead. Children lost parents.
Legal situation (investigation/criminal proceedings)
No one was ever held accountable and there were no criminal proceedings in court. The Sri Lankan officers, who commanded it, and the responsible soldiers have not been convicted to this day.