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Sri Lanka commemorates ’96 central bank bombing

Qadijah Irshad 2 February 2012
COLOMBO - Sri Lanka commemorated the 16th anniversary of the central bank bombing by the terrorist faction Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE).
A memorial statue was unveiled in remembrance of the 91 civillians, including 41 bank employees who lost their lives in one of the deadliest attacks in the three decade separatist war against the Tamil Tiger terrorists in 1996.
The Governor of central bank Ajith Nivard Cabral, who unveiled a plaque and the statue at the reconstructed central bank premises, said that despite the terrorists’ attempt to paralyse the country’s economic growth deadly attacks on high profile targets Sri Lanka has been able to achieve over 8 per cent economic growth following the defeat of the LTTE in May 2009.
Bank employees and relatives of employees killed in the attack paid floral tributes to the statue.
Of the 1,400 people injured in the central bank bombing were two US citizens, six Japanese, and one Dutch national. The terrorist attack plummeted tourism by 40 per cent. Eight adjoining buildings were also badly damaged and more than 100 people lost their eyesight during the central bank bombing. Sri Lanka’s central bank, the pulse of its financial hub was attacked by the LTTE crashing in through the main gates in a lorry carrying around 440 pounds of high explosives.
As terrorists traded shots with the bank’s security guards, the suicide bomber in the lorry detonated the powerful bomb killing and injuring bank workers and civilians.
A backup team followed the lorry with two more LTTE terrorists gunning down stunned civilians with automatic rifles and an RPG launcher. The duo, leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s right hand man Subramanium Vigneswaram alias Kittu, and Sivasamy Dharmendra alias Raju were arrested through tipoff’s from the public.
The LTTE introduced suicide bombing to the world and its first high profile assassination was that of former Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 by a female assassin. The Tamil Tigers’ feared Black Tiger suicide squad continued with over a hundred suicide attacks killing civilians and politicians including former Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa.
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