1987 Suicide of Tamil Tigers

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

On 5 October 1987, 12 Tamil Tigers who were taken into custody by the Sri Lankan Navy committed suicide. They were brought to Sri Lankan Army base in Palali with 5 other unrelated individuals. When Sri Lankan Army attempted to take them to Colombo for interrogation, the 12 committed suicide by swallowing cyanide capsules.

This incident happened two months after the Indian Peace Keeping Force arrived in the northeast of Sri Lanka under the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord. The suicide triggered an anti-Sinhalese pogrom in the Eastern Province carried out by the Tamil nationalist militant groups.

See also[]

• Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran
• IPKF
• Operation Pawan
• Jaffna hospital massacre
• 1989 Valvettiturai massacre

References[]

• "Kumarappa, Pulendran Eighteenth anniversary held in Jaffna". Tamilnet. 5 October 2005. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
• "The Indo-LTTE War (1987-90) - An Anthology. Part1". Tamilnation. 24 November 2007. Retrieved 3 January 2009.^{[dead link]}