Sri Lanka

The current phenomena of Suicide Bombing began in Sri Lanka in the 1980s as the principle weapon of the Tamil Tigers. It is now widely used by groups with different objectives who do not value human life. Most Sri Lanka bombings are attributed to the Tigers and the number of bombings and people killed and maimed is too numerous for CANASB to follow. The incidents continue at an alarming rate and our individual pages were rewritten to highlight important events while others may be added as resources allow.

CANASB received this link from a Sri Lanka organization: http://www.spur.asn.au/chronology_of_suicide_bomb_attacks_by_Tamil_Tigers_in_sri_Lanka.htm  and this YouTube video of a woman commmiting suicide as a bomber: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUdUEOVdEuc

Below are some events CANASB volunteers found.

October 29, 2001: Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake escaped an assassination attempt Monday when police intercepted a would-be suicide bomber who detonated explosives strapped to his body, killing himself and five others.

July 24, 2001: Tiger rebels stage a devastating suicide attack against the main air base and the only international airport in Sri Lanka, leaving 12 people dead and destroying 13 aircraft.

October 2, 2000: Suicide bomber detonates explosives, killing himself and 23 others, including Muslim candidate M. Baithullah contesting the October 10 parliamentary elections.

January 5, 2000: At least 12 killed and 24 wounded when a woman suicide bomber detonates explosives strapped to her body outside the office of prime minister Sirima Bandaranaike.

March 16, 1999: COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Reuters)  At least four people were killed and five wounded when a female suicide bomber blew herself up in a suburb of the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Tuesday, police said.

August 4, 1999: Nine police commandos and one civilian were killed when a woman suicide bomber attacked a police truck in northern Sri Lanka. Eighteen commandos aboard the truck were injured.

December 18, 1999: President Chandrika Kumaratunga is wounded and 38 are killed in two separate attacks on election rallies.

January 25, 1998: Suicide bombers devastate the country's holiest Buddhist shrine in the town of Kandy, killing 16.

February 7, 1998: Colombo. At least nine people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives strapped to her body at a military checkpoint here in the capital today, the police and witnesses said.

June 7, 2000: Sri Lanka's Minister for Industrial Development was killed, along with more than 20 others today when a suicide bomber detonated an explosion in a crowded street.

October 15, 1997: Suicide bombers drive a truck packed with a large quantity of explosives and devastate the twin tower World Trade Centre building, killing 18.

January 31, 1996: A suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives and devastates the Central Bank, killing 91 and wounding 1,400.

October 24, 1994: Opposition leader Gamini Dissanayake and 56 others are killed by a suicide bomber in Colombo.

May 1, 1993: President Ranasinghe Premadasa and 23 others are killed by a suicide bomber in Colombo.

May 21, 1991: Former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is killed at a meeting in southern India by a suspected LTTE suicide bomber.

March 2, 1991: Defence minister Ranjan Wijeratne is among 19 people killed when a car bomb is detonated in Colombo.

July 5, 1987: The LTTE carries out its first suicide bombing, killing 40 troops at the Nelliyady army camp in the north of the country.