LTTE guns down Morawewa’s chief monk

The Thera had played a prominent part in helping Tamils:

Rasika SOMARATHNA

MORAWEWA: LTTE gunmen shot dead the Chief Incumbent of the Pabbatharamaya Temple in Mahadivulwewa, Morawewa last morning.

Sources said three gunmen on two motorbicycles had shot Ven. Handungamuwe Nandarathana Thera around 9.15 a.m. adding that the attackers had fled immediately after the incident.

According to the sources, Ven. Nandarathana Thera was a prominent social worker who worked tirelessly to help the people affected due to the ongoing conflict.

The Thera had played a prominent part in helping Tamils in the area and had ordained several members of the community as Buddhist monks.

The Morawewa area has been the focal point in many a blood letting in the past with the LTTE killing 20 villagers in 1986. In 1987, Tigers killed 10 villagers and destroyed their homes. The area has been under constant Tiger threat since then.

This is the third such slaying by the LTTE in the recent past involving members of the clergy. On February 7, the LTTE killed the head priest of Pilliar Hindu Kovil in Batticaloa.

The Head Priest Chelliah Kurukkal was dragged out and killed when he was having dinner with his family. The Priest was killed for garlanding President Mahinda Rajapaksa when he visited Vakarai on February 3 soon after the area was liberated from LTTE clutches.

Morawewa Police is investigating.