11 Muslims are found murdered in Pottuvil, Ampara with allegations made against the Special Task Force.
Timeline of events under "Civilian deaths" issue
Aerial bombing by Sri Lankan air force kills an estimated 61 children at a school in Mullaitivu. The Sri Lankan government justifies the attack on the basis that the alleged 'orphanage' is a training camp for child soldiers.
Suicide bomber kills Major General Parami Kalutunge and three others at a military base in Colombo.
64 people are killed in a mine attack on a bus in Kabithigollawa, in Anuradhapura, allegedly detonated by the LTTE.
Communal riots follow an explosion in a market in Trincomalee town. The bomb blast and the ensuing riots leave over 20 civilians dead, over 30 shops and 100 homes destroyed by fire and over 3,000 persons displaced and seeking refuge in schools and places of worship.
An estimated 65,000 people have been killed to date as a result of the conflict between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka, according to official figures.
President Kumaratunga narrowly escapes a suicide bomb attack with injuries, including the loss of one eye, during an election rally.
Artillery shells hits Madhu Church in the northern Vanni region killing forty-two and injuring sixty more. The battle was fought around the religious shrine in which a large number of IDPs were known to be seeking refuge. Each side blamed the other for the attack.
Around 54 civilians from the Sinhalese village of Gonagala in the Ampara district are killed by the LTTE.
Sri Lankan air force bomb areas of Mullaitivu killing 21 civilians.
In the first criminal prosecution of its type, the Colombo High Court sentenced to death six soldiers and a reserve policeman found guilty of the September 1996 murders of Jaffna schoolgirl Krishanthy Kumarasamy and her mother, teenage brother and neighbour.
The LTTE detonates a lorry packed with explosives at the gates of the Temple of the Tooth in the city of Kandy, as preparations are underway for the 50th anniversary of independence.
Tamil politicians and human rights organisations protest against the security forces’ continued use of homeguards and armed ex-militant Tamil groups to aid in security operations, as 'spotters' to identify suspected LTTE members, and to detain and interrogate suspects. They have been accused of murder, abduction, extortion, assault, illegal detention, torture, and forced conscription.
LTTE attacks central Colombo's World Trade Centre with a truck bomb, killing 11 people.
The UN's Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, undertakes a twelve-day visit to Sri Lanka.
