Bodhi shrine, a sacred site for Buddhists & it houses the world's oldest living human-planted tree, planted in 288 BC. This was followed by a massacre through the town. At least 150 civilians and monks died in the attack. This event is known as the Anuradhapura massacre. This was also seen as retaliation for the 1985 Valvettiturai massacre which occurred 2 days prior. In this incident, 70 tamil youths were forced by the Sri Lankan Army to gather within the town's library before it was blown up using high explosives. The government stepped up its campaign against the insurgency, and the Sri Lankan army in 1987 laid siege to the town of Jaffna, an LTTE stronghold, as part of its campaign against the Tamil bases known as the Vadamarachchi Operation. India, which had a substantial Tamil population in the southern part of the country, had been aiding the Tamil factions and particularly the LTTE and called on the Sri Lankan government to halt the offensive, which was viewed to be against the sovereign rights of a nation. However, the Indian efforts were futile. Failing to negotiate an end to the crisis with Sri Lanka, India announced on 2 June 1987 that it would send a convoy of ships to northern Sri Lanka to provide humanitarian assistance. A convoy of 19 fishing boats carrying 38 tons of food, fuel, and medicine and an Indian Coast Guard vessel escorting them was sent. On 4 June 1987, the Sri Lanka Navy intercepted and turned back the convoy. Several Sri Lankan patrol boats confronted the convoy as it entered Sri Lankan waters in the Palk Strait and after a four-hour standoff, the Indian convoy turned back. Following the failure of the naval mission, the decision was made of symbolic support for the Tamil rebels as well as an act to preserve the credibility of Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi among the country's Tamil population—by the Indian Government to carry out an airdrop of the humanitarian supplies to the LTTE, designated Operation Poomalai or Eagle Mission 4. Operation Mounted on the evening of 4 June 1987, the operation involved five An-32s of the Paratroop Training School in Agra, escorted by five Mirage 2000s of the No. 7 Squadron. At 2200 on 2 June, 7 Squadron was directed to send a six aircraft detachment to Bangalore Airport, where they were re-directed to Yelahanka airbase north of