Relatives of victims have gathered in Sri Lanka's Eastern Province to mark the 41st anniversary of a massacre of unarmed Tamil civilians allegedly carried out by the military.
Local journalists reported that family members paid tribute on Sunday using flowers, lamps, and incense near the main road in Varothayanagar, Trincomalee.
The site is close to where the victims' homes once stood before the killings occurred more than four decades ago.
The memorial service paid tribute to all residents killed in the vicinity during that period, including 10 people slain on 17 August 1985.
Drive by shooting spree
According to surviving relatives, a group of Sri Lankan soldiers arrived in a Defender vehicle from the Kanniya area on August 17, 1985.
They opened fire continuously along the road as they moved through the village.
Local residents Wellayan Thiruchelvam and his father-in-law Kandan Manikkam were shot dead in the initial attack.
The same military unit then drove towards Kandaiya Road, where another resident, Seeniyan Manikkam, was killed in a second round of shooting.
Terrified by the sudden gun violence, local villagers fled their homes to seek shelter in neighboring properties.
Deadly bomb attack
A bomb targeted one of the houses where fleeing residents had gathered for safety later that same day.
The blast killed five members of a single family, Gunarasa Vaseekala, Gunarasa Sangar, Gunarasa Genga, Thesingan Imban, and Thesingan Jayanthi.
Two other residents, Rasarathnam Rabendra Rasa and Kadirgamapillai Nageswari, were also killed in the explosion.
Surviving villagers managed to transport the dead and wounded to Trincomalee Hospital by evening.
Relatives said that an eight-year-old girl admitted for medical treatment vanished from the hospital wards, with her whereabouts remaining unknown to this day.
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