Personal data
Name
Mery Josappin Sebamalai
Date of birth
26.08.1977
Age
31
Place of birth
Periyanilasenai Uiyilankulam, Mannar
Biographical details
Occupation: Teacher
Indcident
Date
29.01.2008
Location
Thadchanamadhu, near the Madhu church complex in Mannar
Description
A bus carrying mainly school children and teachers came under a claymore attack. Mery Josappin Sebamalai was one of the teachers. Twenty people in the bus were killed and a further twenty one were injured (seventeen of them seriously). Among those killed are thirteen school children and a school principal. All the 13 students who died were aged between 10 and 16.
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 Unit of the Sri Lanka military.
There have been 22 claymore attacks on civilian targets up until the attack on the school bus. A total of 62 civilians, including a catholic priest, an assistant director of education, a medical doctor, two school principals, a teacher, twenty two school students, and five nurses were killed in these 21 claymore attacks. 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.
Legal situation (investigation/criminal proceedings)
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