He also offered sympathies and prayers to the families of the victims. Six Army soldiers of Thaladi camp who were engaged in a "Shramadana" at the church building were killed and ten others were injured in the incident.

The St. Sebastian Cathedral building was gravely damaged in the LTTE artillery fire, where civilian lives were saved as troops assisted them to near by shelters till the LTTE guns were neutralized.

Bishop Duleep de Chikera has also made a statement condemning the terrorist attack on the church.

Meanwhile, civilians and military expressed great concerns of the sinister motive of a "Most Rev. Lordship" in Mannar, who is yet to condemn the LTTE artillery attack at the St. Sebastian Cathedral, a callous disregard to civilian life and holy property.

St. Sebastian Cathedral at Thaladi is a place of workship to both the Catholics and non-Catholics in Mannar. The Army troops were making preparations to assist the Lenten Pilgrimages during the holy season.

On 20th November, 1999 LTTE terrorists shelled the holiest Roman Catholic Madhu Church killing 38 refugees and injuring 60, in which the “Most Rev. Lordship” failed to condemn the brutal LTTE act, for reasons only known to him and his sinister psychopaths.