Between November 8th and 11th 1985, 30 Tamils were killed and around 70 arrested and ‘disappeared’ as all three divisions of the SL armed forces attacked the town by land, sea and air. The attack lasted for three days and many houses were also burnt to the ground.
Mutur was once again the site of carnage during the first week of August 2006, when a 3-day battle between the SLA and LTTE took place there during the ‘liberation’ of the Eastern Province. During this week, 17 local employees of the French Aid Agency, Action Contra La Faim, were massacred. The perpetrators were widely believed to be the SLA. A temporary memorial is erected every year to commemorate their deaths.