The Central Bank bombing was one of the deadliest attacks carried out by the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eela ...

(LTTE) during the separatist

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

between the government and the Tamil Tigers.

Incident

The attack took place on 31 January 1996, in the Sri Lankan capital

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. A

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...

containing about 440 pounds of high explosives crashed through the main gate of the

Central Bank of Sri Lanka The Central Bank of Sri Lanka ( CBSL; ), known until 1985 as the Central Bank of Ceylon, is the central bank of Sri Lanka. It was established in 1950 under the Monetary Law Act No.58 of 1949 (MLA) and in terms of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka Ac ...

, a seaside high-rise which managed most of the financial business of the country. As gunmen traded fire with security guards, a

suicide bomber A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

in the lorry detonated the massive bomb, which tore through the bank and damaged eight other buildings nearby. The lorry was followed by a

three-wheeler A three-wheeler is a vehicle with three wheels. Some are motorized tricycles, which may be legally classed as motorcycles, while others are tricycles without a motor, some of which are human-powered vehicles and animal-powered vehicles. Ove ...

, carrying two LTTE cadres armed with automatic

rifle A rifle is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting and higher stopping power, with a gun barrel, barrel that has a helical or spiralling pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus o ...

s and an

RPG RPG may refer to: Military * Rocket-propelled grenade, a shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon **''Ruchnoi Protivotankoviy Granatomyot'' (Russian: ''Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт''), hand-held anti-tank grenade laun ...

launcher. The blast killed at least 91 people and injured 1,400 others. At least 100 people lost their eyesight. Among the wounded were two US citizens, six Japanese, and one Dutch national. Most of these were bystanders or civilians manning small shops set up near the bank. While the bomber Raju died immediately, the backup team Subramanium Vigneswaram alias Kittu, and Sivasamy Dharmendra alias Raju, were apprehended by law enforcement with information provided by the public.Sri Lanka's Ethnic Crisis & National Security by

Rohan Gunaratna Professor Rohan Gunaratna (born 1961) is a threat specialist of the global security environment. Professor Gunaratna has over 30 years of academic, policy, and operational experience in national and international security. He is Professor of Se ...

, Police and the security forces launched a massive manhunt for others who were involved in this

terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...

incident. It was eventually determined the bombers had come from

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

, in the north of the country and were LTTE members. This bombing, and one in July on a train that killed more than 70, caused tourism to plummet 40% in Sri Lanka. Until 2006, the Central Bank bombing was the deadliest LTTE bombing of the civil war. The BBC reported that the Tigers denied responsibility for the attack. But the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ravinatha Aryasinha, blamed the Tigers, saying the attack proved they "do not care for international opinion or the safety of civilians, including foreigners who have nothing to do with the present conflict".

Suicide bombers

The attack was mainly carried out by three

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...

cadres. While one of them died immediately, the other two were taken into custody by the police. The suicide bombers were: *Raju (main bomber) *Subramanium Vigneswaram alias Kittu *Sivasamy Dharmendra alias Raju Immediately after the bombing, several tourists and local and foreign travel agencies received calls from Ellalan Force, a front organisation of LTTE, to boycott Sri Lanka.

Criminal indictment

Eleven LTTE members were charged with the bombing of the Central Bank, ten of them were indicted on a total of 712 counts, including intention to cause death and committing murder, destruction of state property by attacking the central bank, and provoking violence. In 2002, Judge Sarath Ambepitiya issued an open warrant to arrest LTTE's exclusive leader,

Velupillai Prabhakaran Velupillai Prabhakaran (; ; ; 26 November 1954 – 18 May 2009) was a Sri Lankan guerrilla and a major figure of Tamil nationalism, being the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE was a militant organiza ...

in connection with the 1996 Central Bank Bombing. The judge found him guilty,

in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...

, on 51 counts and sentenced him to 200 years in prison.

References

External links

Fifty die in Sri Lanka suicide bombing
{{Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 1996 murders in Sri Lanka Central Bank bombing Suicide bombings in 1996 Attacks on bank buildings in Asia 1996 building bombings Suicide Attacks on civilians attributed to the LTTE Black Tigers Suicide car and truck bombings in Sri Lanka 1990s massacres of the Sri Lankan civil war Car and truck bombings in 1996 Central Bank bombing January 1996 crimes January 1996 in Sri Lanka Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacks in Eelam War III Mass murder in 1996 Central Bank bombing Mass murder of Sinhalese Central Bank bombing Terrorist incidents in Sri Lanka in 1996 Building bombings in Sri Lanka