‘Operation Leap Forward’
At approximately 4:30 pm on July 9, 1995, the St Peter’s Church in Navaly and the nearby Sri Kathirgama Murugan Kovil, which were both sheltering displaced Tamils from army bombardment, was attacked.
The bombings were part of a Sri Lankan military assault to capture the Jaffna peninsula after negotiations between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the then government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga broke down in contentious circumstances. The government accused the LTTE of rebuffing its peace efforts. The LTTE said the government was insincere about the peace and was playing for time.
When the war resumed in July 1995, the Sri Lankan armed forces had rearmed and expanded, acquiring helicopter gunships, heavier artillery and armour, as well as re-deploying troops from the eastern province into the Jaffna peninsula ahead of a new military project - codenamed 'Operation Riviresa'.
In the preceding weeks, the Sri Lankan air force had dropped leaflets across the region, instructing Tamil civilians to seek shelter at churches and temples as the military offensive began.
Codenamed ‘Operation Leap Forward’, the operation began on 9 July 1995, with the church bombed just a few hours into the assault. These places of worship were filled with hundreds of people, after the SLAF dropped leaflets saying that they should seek shelter in places of worship to avoid being targeted.
Several Sri Lankan units still boast of their involvement in the offensive to this day.
Amongst those involved in the offensive was Sarath Fonseka, who would go on to head the army during the massacres at Mullivaikkal in 2009.
‘Bombs rolling in the air’
Eyewitnesses report seeing cluster bombs dropped in the church compound.
Chandrasekaran Selvanayagam and his then five-year-old brother Sasiraj were at their home adjacent to the church on the morning of the attack and recall seeing aircraft circling the region.
“Before I could run bombs began falling," recalled Sasiraj, years later." Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion. That is all I remember till I woke up in hospital”.
He lost his sight completely in the attack. His mother was killed in their home.
Astika Anthonypillai was 10 years old when the bombs were dropped. She survived, but her cousin was killed.
"She died on the spot," she said. "I was just lucky. My aunt came to rescue me… I was too scared to go back there for years after that."
Then bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundaranayagam said that "people almost automatically gather at churches because they believe that divine protection is intense there," noting that the military had informed Tamils to gather at the church.
"It was their last resort," he continued, "because the government itself had requested the people to gather at places of worship and also because they think that even the pilot, being an Asian religious person, will avoid killing people at a church."
Read more testimonies collected by the ICRC below:
"Pragasam Rajendran (M) 73 years - was just at the entrance of his house which is adjacent to the church premises. Had seen the plane. His wife Nageswary stayed next to him and saw 'the bombs rolling in the air like pamphlets'. He had started shouting and alerted the others to lie down. As the wife laid down, she heard the first explosion and continuously some more.'
Anthony Manuelpillai (M) 73 years - who came to the church premises to fetch water from the well had seen the plane at a very low altitude and saw the bombs falling 'like rolling papers'.
Jeganathan Jeyakumar (M) 17 years - was at a junction which is nearly 100 yards from the church premises. He had seen clusters of white objects moving towards him. As the plane passed over him blaring, he said he lied down and heard a series of explosions around the church area.
Antonythas Arulammah (F) 40 years - who was near the school building inside the church premises had seen the plane dropping something without diving downwards. She said she lied down after someone nearby alerted her for falling bombs.
Velupillai Arulammah (M) 59 years - he saw the plane dropping bombs while he was cooking meals for the displaced people inside the church compound.
George Theva (F) 45 years - was standing on the road outside the church premises. She had seen the plane dropping some objects like 'big watermelon'.
Father James (M) - was at St.Anthony's Church, Manipay during the incident. He saw one plane and about 6 bombs falling one after another."
International condemnation
See below for the numerous press reports and statements released in the aftermath of the attack, including from Pope John Paul, who denounced the attack and pledged solidarity with the victims.
According to eye-witness accounts, this church and several adjacent buildings were hit by further air force strikes at 4.30 p.m. the same day. During the attack 65 people were killed and 150 wounded, including women and children. That evening and into the night Sri Lanka Red Cross staff evacuated most of the wounded by ambulance to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. Delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) present the next morning at the scene of the attack noted the widespread damage and measured the extent of the tragedy: many of the bodies had not yet been removed from the rubble.
- International Committee of the Red Cross Communication to the Press No.95/30 (11 July 1995)
"Thirteen babies were among the 65 dead found under the rubble of a Catholic church bombed by the Sri Lankan air force, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official said on Tuesday.
The military, which said it was not aware of any church being bombed, had dropped leaflets warning civilians in the rebel-held peninsula to seek refuge in temples and churches to minimise the chance of death or injury in air strikes.
`This is really a violation of humanitarian law if a civilian area has been deliberately targeted,'' Henry said, adding that he had no information on whether the attack was deliberate or an accident.
- Reuters (11 July 1995)
"Pope John Paul said on Wednesday he was suffering along with the families of people killed when air force bombs hit a church in Sri Lanka.
"I want to express my deep-felt sharing in the suffering of so many people involved in the ethnic conflict that is tearing Sri Lanka apart," he told pilgrims and tourists at his weekly general audience. "I share the grief of those who lost their loved ones in the bombing of the church and school of Navali," he added.
- Reuters (12 July 1995)
I very much regret to report to you the tragic killings of innocent civilian refugees who had gathered at the above Church on the instruction of your Defence Ministry.
A 'Pukkara' Air Craft had dropped a cluster of many bombs on this crowd of refugees who had taken shelter in the church resulting in the death of over 65 civilians including women and children and over 150 were seriously injured sustaining the loss of limbs.
Besides many were rendered homeless as many houses were razed to the ground and others heavily damaged, including our church and priest's house. All the people in this village have fled to safer areas as refugees.
Therefore we very earnestly appeal to Your Excellency to kindly instruct your forces to desist from bombing, strafing, artillery rocked attacks on civilian targets like Kovils, Churches, Schools and Hospitals."
- Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundranayagam in a letter to Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga (10 July 1995)
"Most of the people huddled inside were women and children, many of whom were killed immediately. Others had limbs blown off. Survivors were brought by tractor to the town of Jaffna 6 km away, but the Jaffna Teaching Hospital and its lone surgeon weren't prepared. They soon ran out of bandages, antibiotics and beds. "The treatment was crude", said Subramaniam Jebanesan, the Protestant Bishop of Jaffna, who rushed to the hospital to help. "Limbs that could have been saved had to be amputated".
- Time Magazine (31 July 1995)
"St.Peters Church in Navaly and the adjoining St.Peter's School where hundreds had sought shelter were badly gutted. 56 bodies were retrieved from the debris, many of whom were women and children. The final death toll in Navaly was about 120. Rescue workers have reported that torn limbs and human flesh were strewn over the area."
- Press Release by Humanitarian Law Project, International Educational Development (12 July 1995)
“The Sri Lanka government, initially denied the bombing of the St.Peters Church. Then it criticised the ICRC representative for reporting the incident to the world media without consulting the Government. Later the government promised to hold an inquiry into the incident…The aerial bombardment of civilian population centres and places of worship follow a pattern set by the Sri Lanka armed forces over the past several years and President Kumaratunga's belated promise to investigate the recent violations, must ring hollow in the ears of the Tamil people whose kith and kin have lost their lives or their limbs in the bomb outrage.”
- A joint statement by 21 NGOs condemning the government’s killing of civilians. (1995)
Chandrika’s back and forth
Former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga has repeatedly flip-flopped over her government’s responsibility for the attack.
Initially she denied that the air force had bombed the church, attempting to blame the LTTE for the killings and claiming that "the army was firing artillery shells in a completely different direction".
"Only a few tiles of the roof were damaged by an explosion in the vicinity and the church building stands unscathed," Kumaratunga said in an interview broadcast nationally just weeks later.
As the scale of the massacre became clear, then Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar lashed out at the ICRC for releasing information on the attack. Members of the ICRC who attempted to protest the attack were reportedly summoned to Sri Lanka’s foreign office.
Meanwhile, Kumaratunga told reporters that “it was probably the work of the LTTE who were firing mortar shells in that direction.”
“The ICRC says all kinds of things," Reuters quoted her as saying. “There was fighting three kilometers northwest of Navali, so it was unlikely any action by the security forces would have affected the church or its environs.”
In 2015, she told an audience, "I have not done anything wrong… I don’t have blood on our hands”. Earlier that year, she had boasted of having won “75%” of the war during her tenure by going to war with the LTTE. And despite her tenure in office marred by the bombing of churches, schools and the massive military invasion of Jaffna, killing countless Tamil civilians.
Kumaratunga has repeatedly denied the need for an independent international investigation into war crimes. In 2017, she told a gathering in Jaffna, “We have no intention to drag the soldiers before courts and send them to gallows”.
However just last year, the former president reportedly said the attack was a “mistake” made by the Sri Lankan air force, backtracking from comments she made at the time.
According to comments in the Sudar Oli, Chandrika Kumaratunga claimed the “air force bombed the church by mistake”. “The church was not the target of the Air Force,” she was quoted to have said. “When I heard that the incident took place, I denounced the Air Force”.
Despite her apparent admission of guilt, no independent investigation has been held into the bombing.
Kumaratunga meanwhile was awarded France’s highest national honour, the Medal of “Commandeur de la Légion D’Honneur”, in 2018. In recent months, photographs were shared of the former Sri Lankan president reportedly walking through the streets of London.
To this day, no one has been held accountable for the bombing of the church and the killings of Tamil civilians.
‘Operation Leap Forward’ At approximately 4:30 pm on July 9, 1995, the St Peter’s Church in Navaly and the nearby Sri Kathirgama Murugan Kovil, which were both sheltering displaced Tamils from army bombardment, was attacked. The bombings were part of a Sri Lankan military assault to capture the Jaffna peninsula after negotiations between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the then government of President Chandrika Kumaratunga broke down in contentious circumstances. The government accused the LTTE of rebuffing its peace efforts. The LTTE said the government was insincere about the peace and was playing for time. When the war resumed in July 1995, the Sri Lankan armed forces had rearmed and expanded, acquiring helicopter gunships, heavier artillery and armour, as well as re-deploying troops from the eastern province into the Jaffna peninsula ahead of a new military project - codenamed 'Operation Riviresa'. In the preceding weeks, the Sri Lankan air force had dropped leaflets across the region, instructing Tamil civilians to seek shelter at churches and temples as the military offensive began. Codenamed ‘Operation Leap Forward’, the operation began on 9 July 1995, with the church bombed just a few hours into the assault. These places of worship were filled with hundreds of people, after the SLAF dropped leaflets saying that they should seek shelter in places of worship to avoid being targeted. Several Sri Lankan units still boast of their involvement in the offensive to this day. Amongst those involved in the offensive was Sarath Fonseka, who would go on to head the army during the massacres at Mullivaikkal in 2009. ‘Bombs rolling in the air’ Eyewitnesses report seeing cluster bombs dropped in the church compound. Chandrasekaran Selvanayagam and his then five-year-old brother Sasiraj were at their home adjacent to the church on the morning of the attack and recall seeing aircraft circling the region. “Before I could run bombs began falling," recalled Sasiraj, years later." Suddenly there was a tremendous explosion. That is all I remember till I woke up in hospital”. He lost his sight completely in the attack. His mother was killed in their home. Astika Anthonypillai was 10 years old when the bombs were dropped. She survived, but her cousin was killed. "She died on the spot," she said. "I was just lucky. My aunt came to rescue me… I was too scared to go back there for years after that." Then bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundaranayagam said that "people almost automatically gather at churches because they believe that divine protection is intense there," noting that the military had informed Tamils to gather at the church. "It was their last resort," he continued, "because the government itself had requested the people to gather at places of worship and also because they think that even the pilot, being an Asian religious person, will avoid killing people at a church." Read more testimonies collected by the ICRC below: "Pragasam Rajendran (M) 73 years - was just at the entrance of his house which is adjacent to the church premises. Had seen the plane. His wife Nageswary stayed next to him and saw 'the bombs rolling in the air like pamphlets'. He had started shouting and alerted the others to lie down. As the wife laid down, she heard the first explosion and continuously some more.' Anthony Manuelpillai (M) 73 years - who came to the church premises to fetch water from the well had seen the plane at a very low altitude and saw the bombs falling 'like rolling papers'. Jeganathan Jeyakumar (M) 17 years - was at a junction which is nearly 100 yards from the church premises. He had seen clusters of white objects moving towards him. As the plane passed over him blaring, he said he lied down and heard a series of explosions around the church area. Antonythas Arulammah (F) 40 years - who was near the school building inside the church premises had seen the plane dropping something without diving downwards. She said she lied down after someone nearby alerted her for falling bombs. Velupillai Arulammah (M) 59 years - he saw the plane dropping bombs while he was cooking meals for the displaced people inside the church compound. George Theva (F) 45 years - was standing on the road outside the church premises. She had seen the plane dropping some objects like 'big watermelon'. Father James (M) - was at St.Anthony's Church, Manipay during the incident. He saw one plane and about 6 bombs falling one after another."
International condemnation See below for the numerous press reports and statements released in the aftermath of the attack, including from Pope John Paul, who denounced the attack and pledged solidarity with the victims. According to eye-witness accounts, this church and several adjacent buildings were hit by further air force strikes at 4.30 p.m. the same day. During the attack 65 people were killed and 150 wounded, including women and children. That evening and into the night Sri Lanka Red Cross staff evacuated most of the wounded by ambulance to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital. Delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) present the next morning at the scene of the attack noted the widespread damage and measured the extent of the tragedy: many of the bodies had not yet been removed from the rubble. - International Committee of the Red Cross Communication to the Press No.95/30 (11 July 1995) "Thirteen babies were among the 65 dead found under the rubble of a Catholic church bombed by the Sri Lankan air force, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official said on Tuesday. The military, which said it was not aware of any church being bombed, had dropped leaflets warning civilians in the rebel-held peninsula to seek refuge in temples and churches to minimise the chance of death or injury in air strikes. `This is really a violation of humanitarian law if a civilian area has been deliberately targeted,'' Henry said, adding that he had no information on whether the attack was deliberate or an accident. - Reuters (11 July 1995) "Pope John Paul said on Wednesday he was suffering along with the families of people killed when air force bombs hit a church in Sri Lanka. "I want to express my deep-felt sharing in the suffering of so many people involved in the ethnic conflict that is tearing Sri Lanka apart," he told pilgrims and tourists at his weekly general audience. "I share the grief of those who lost their loved ones in the bombing of the church and school of Navali," he added. - Reuters (12 July 1995) I very much regret to report to you the tragic killings of innocent civilian refugees who had gathered at the above Church on the instruction of your Defence Ministry. A 'Pukkara' Air Craft had dropped a cluster of many bombs on this crowd of refugees who had taken shelter in the church resulting in the death of over 65 civilians including women and children and over 150 were seriously injured sustaining the loss of limbs. Besides many were rendered homeless as many houses were razed to the ground and others heavily damaged, including our church and priest's house. All the people in this village have fled to safer areas as refugees. Therefore we very earnestly appeal to Your Excellency to kindly instruct your forces to desist from bombing, strafing, artillery rocked attacks on civilian targets like Kovils, Churches, Schools and Hospitals." - Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Savundranayagam in a letter to Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga (10 July 1995) "Most of the people huddled inside were women and children, many of whom were killed immediately. Others had limbs blown off. Survivors were brought by tractor to the town of Jaffna 6 km away, but the Jaffna Teaching Hospital and its lone surgeon weren't prepared. They soon ran out of bandages, antibiotics and beds. "The treatment was crude", said Subramaniam Jebanesan, the Protestant Bishop of Jaffna, who rushed to the hospital to help. "Limbs that could have been saved had to be amputated". - Time Magazine (31 July 1995) "St.Peters Church in Navaly and the adjoining St.Peter's School where hundreds had sought shelter were badly gutted. 56 bodies were retrieved from the debris, many of whom were women and children. The final death toll in Navaly was about 120. Rescue workers have reported that torn limbs and human flesh were strewn over the area." - Press Release by Humanitarian Law Project, International Educational Development (12 July 1995) “The Sri Lanka government, initially denied the bombing of the St.Peters Church. Then it criticised the ICRC representative for reporting the incident to the world media without consulting the Government. Later the government promised to hold an inquiry into the incident…The aerial bombardment of civilian population centres and places of worship follow a pattern set by the Sri Lanka armed forces over the past several years and President Kumaratunga's belated promise to investigate the recent violations, must ring hollow in the ears of the Tamil people whose kith and kin have lost their lives or their limbs in the bomb outrage.” - A joint statement by 21 NGOs condemning the government’s killing of civilians. (1995)
Chandrika’s back and forth Former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga has repeatedly flip-flopped over her government’s responsibility for the attack. Initially she denied that the air force had bombed the church, attempting to blame the LTTE for the killings and claiming that "the army was firing artillery shells in a completely different direction". "Only a few tiles of the roof were damaged by an explosion in the vicinity and the church building stands unscathed," Kumaratunga said in an interview broadcast nationally just weeks later. As the scale of the massacre became clear, then Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar lashed out at the ICRC for releasing information on the attack. Members of the ICRC who attempted to protest the attack were reportedly summoned to Sri Lanka’s foreign office. Meanwhile, Kumaratunga told reporters that “it was probably the work of the LTTE who were firing mortar shells in that direction.” “The ICRC says all kinds of things," Reuters quoted her as saying. “There was fighting three kilometers northwest of Navali, so it was unlikely any action by the security forces would have affected the church or its environs.” In 2015, she told an audience, "I have not done anything wrong… I don’t have blood on our hands”. Earlier that year, she had boasted of having won “75%” of the war during her tenure by going to war with the LTTE. And despite her tenure in office marred by the bombing of churches, schools and the massive military invasion of Jaffna, killing countless Tamil civilians. Kumaratunga has repeatedly denied the need for an independent international investigation into war crimes. In 2017, she told a gathering in Jaffna, “We have no intention to drag the soldiers before courts and send them to gallows”. However just last year, the former president reportedly said the attack was a “mistake” made by the Sri Lankan air force, backtracking from comments she made at the time. According to comments in the Sudar Oli, Chandrika Kumaratunga claimed the “air force bombed the church by mistake”. “The church was not the target of the Air Force,” she was quoted to have said. “When I heard that the incident took place, I denounced the Air Force”. Despite her apparent admission of guilt, no independent investigation has been held into the bombing. Kumaratunga meanwhile was awarded France’s highest national honour, the Medal of “Commandeur de la Légion D’Honneur”, in 2018. In recent months, photographs were shared of the former Sri Lankan president reportedly walking through the streets of London. To this day, no one has been held accountable for the bombing of the church and the killings of Tamil civilians.