Central Bank Bombing
|
|
The Central Bank Bombing was one of the most devastating terrorist bombings in the 1990's, and was the deadliest attack in the long civil war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil Tigers.
The attack took place on January 31, 1996, in the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo. A truck containing about 440 pounds of high explosives crashed through the main gate of the Central Bank, a seaside high-rise which managed most of the financial business of the country. As gunmen traded fire with security guards, the suicide bomber in the truck detonated the massive bomb, which tore through the bank and damaged eight other buildings nearby.
In all, 90 people died and 1,400 were injured. Most of these were civilians who were on the street nearby and who were manning small shops set up near the bank. The Sri Lankan government arrested two suspects in the attack immediately, and launched a massive manhunt for others. It was eventually determined the bombers had come from Jaffna, in the north of the country.
The bombing was the worst terrorist attack of 1996, and the worst, but not the last, in the Sri Lankan conflict.