Initially, the LTTE gained prominence due to devastating attacks such as the Kent and Dollar Farm massacres of 1984, where 62 men, women and children were attacked during the night as they slept and were hacked to death with fatal blows to the head from axes. Attacks were often carried out in revenge for attacks committed by the Sri Lankan Army, such as the Anuradhapura massacre which immediately followed the Valvettithurai massacre. The Anuradhapura massacre itself was answered by government forces with the Kumudini boat massacre in which over 23 Tamil civilians died.