 |
| Around 1,400 people were
injured in the suicide bomb blast |
| 1996: Fifty dead in Sri Lanka suicide
bombing |
England have
At least 53 people have been killed and another 1,400 injured in a
suicide attack in the capital of Sri Lanka.
A lorry loaded with explosives crashed into the central bank in the
heart of Colombo's financial district.
The authorities said the explosion, which ripped through the business
district at 1100 local time was the work of the separatist Tamil Tigers.
The group's fight for an independent homeland has resulted in the
deaths of nearly 40,000 people over the last 12 years.
It is believed that the intended target was the neighbouring navy
headquarters.
Brigadier Sarath Munasinghe, a Sri Lankan military spokesman, said: "It
had to be the Tamil Tigers. Who else would have done such a thing like
this?"
The blast is thought to be in response to the army's claim on the main
Tiger guerrilla base at Jaffna, on the north of the island, during a long
and bloody campaign that ended last December.
Witnesses said a lorry stopped near the bank at about 1045 local time
and the driver was confronted by security staff.
Three people jumped out of the vehicle with guns blazing and detonated
two bombs.
Meanwhile, the lorry reversed into the central bank and blew up.
The police said the driver of the truck died in the blast.
Two youths wearing jackets filled with explosives were later arrested
at the Fort railway station nearby.
The blast caused the first two floors of the 10-storey central bank to
collapse and it shattered the windows of a 39-storey trade centre that was
still under construction.
Office workers trapped on the upper floors of burning buildings nearby
were lifted to safety by helicopters.
The Intercontinental Hotel, one of several luxury hotels in the area,
was evacuated.
Most of the dead and wounded were in the Central Bank building, where
Sri Lanka's gold reserves are held and the country's financial policy is
made.
The director of the National Hospital's trauma unit, Hector
Weerasinghe, said 53 people had died so far.
Around 1,060 people were admitted to two hospitals nearby while
hundreds of others were released after treatment.
The blast comes as the government prepares an ambitious political
offensive to end more than a decade of fighting.
It also follows a major government victory last month, when the Sri
Lankan Army seized the city of Jaffna, a former stronghold of the Tamil
Tiger rebels.
Anuruddha Ratwatte, the deputy defence minister, said on state
television: "If Velupillai Prabhakaran [the Tamil Tiger chief] thinks that
by these acts he can stop our military offensive, he is dreaming.
"We say quite clearly that these acts will make us even more determined
to destroy terrorism.''
The economic consequences of the blast for Sri Lanka will be
catastrophic, both through direct losses and because of lost tourism and
foreign investment.
