Madhu church shelling

Madhu church shelling
Location of Sri Lanka
Location	Madhu, Sri Lanka
Date	November 20, 1999 (UTC+05:30)
Target	Sri Lankan Tamil civilians
Attack type	Shelling
Weapons	Tank or Mortar shells
Deaths	40
Non-fatal injuries	60
Suspected perpetrators	Sri Lankan Army, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Madhu church shelling or Madhu church massacre is the name for the shelling of the Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu in Sri Lanka during the Sri Lankan civil war on November 20, 1999. The shelling resulted in the deaths of approximately 40 minority Sri Lankan Tamil civilians, including children, and more than 60 non-fatal injuries. The exact cause and nature of the event is disputed between the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan government. The church is a Roman Catholic Marian shrine in Mannar district of Sri Lanka. With a history of over 400 years, this shrine acts as a center for pilgrimage and worship for Sri Lankan Catholics and others. The site is considered as the holiest Catholic shrine in the island.

During the British colonial period, when Sri Lanka was known as Ceylon, most civil service jobs were (roughly 60%) held by minority Sri Lankan Tamils who were approximately 15% of the population. This was enabled due to the availability of western style education provided by American missionaries and others in the Tamil dominant Jaffna peninsula. The preponderance of Tamils over their natural share of the population was used by populist majority Sinhalese politicians to come to political power by promising to elevate the Sinhalese people. These measures as well as riots and pogroms that targeted the minority Sri Lankan Tamils led to the formation of a number of rebel groups advocating independence for Sri Lankan Tamils. Following the 1983 Black July pogrom full scale civil war began between the government and the rebel groups.