Menna SLFP 1971 
According to available official figures, at least 5,000, probably many more, died in the insurrection. According to unofficial figures nearly 25,000 Sinhalese youths could have been killed. Accounts from reliable sources indicate that many of suspected insurgents were summarily shot by a panic-stricken police and their bodies burnt on pyres consisting of old rubber tyres impregnated with diesel oil, thereby preventing any kind of identification.The police who had killed suspected or active insurgents, let the bodies float downstream in order to terrorise the people. Wijeweera in a statement from prison in 1972, had stated that 15,000 revolutionaries had been killed, but twice that number of innocent people had also died.
Throughout the months of June to October, the government was involved with the mopping-up operations. During those days it was reported that atrocities had been committed on a large scale. Summary executions were widely reported to have taken place, but the government denied all these allegations.
A Lost Revolution: The JVP Insurrection 1971
http://www.lankalibrary.com/pol/jvp1971.htm
According to available official figures, at least 5,000, probably many more, died in the insurrection. According to unofficial figures nearly 25,000 Sinhalese youths could have been killed. Accounts from reliable sources indicate that many of suspected insurgents were summarily shot by a panic-stricken police and their bodies burnt on pyres consisting of old rubber tyres impregnated with diesel oil, thereby preventing any kind of identification.The police who had killed suspected or active insurgents, let the bodies float downstream in order to terrorise the people. Wijeweera in a statement from prison in 1972, had stated that 15,000 revolutionaries had been killed, but twice that number of innocent people had also died.
Throughout the months of June to October, the government was involved with the mopping-up operations. During those days it was reported that atrocities had been committed on a large scale. Summary executions were widely reported to have taken place, but the government denied all these allegations.
A Lost Revolution: The JVP Insurrection 1971
http://www.lankalibrary.com/pol/jvp1971.htm
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