Akuressa suicide bombing | |
---|---|
Location | Akuressa, Sri Lanka |
Date | March 10, 2009 |
Attack type | Suicide bombing |
Deaths | 14 [1] |
Injured | 35 |
On 10 March 2009, a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam suicide bomber caused an explosion at a religious parade near Godapitiya Jumma mosque in Akuressa, Matara in southern Sri Lanka, killing 14 and injuring 35 civilians. [2] [3] Several government ministers were among the injured including oil resource minister A. H. M. Fowzie, telecommunication minister Mahinda Wijesekara, [4] Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Pandu Bandaranaike, Chandrasiri Gajadeera, and Ali Ameer. Also, there were few local politicians among the dead. [5] [6]
As a result of the police investigations on the incident, the LTTE suicide bomber was identified as Senthamil by his girlfriend at the Matara Hospital mortuary. [7]
The explosion was caught on a video footage filmed by a local resident. [4] [8]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 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 in the northeast of the island in response to violent persecution and discriminatory policies against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan Government.
The Sri Lankan civil war was a civil war fought in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009. Beginning on 23 July 1983, it was an intermittent insurgency against the government by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by Velupillai Prabhakaran. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam in the north-east of the island, due to the continuous discrimination and violent persecution against Sri Lankan Tamils by the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lanka government.
The Central Bank bombing was one of the deadliest attacks carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the separatist civil war in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil Tigers.
The Black Tigers was an elite suicide commando unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant Tamil separatist organization in Sri Lanka.
The Sea Tigers was the naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the Sri Lankan Civil War. It was founded in 1984. The Sea Tigers had a number of small but effective suicide bomber vessels. During its existence it had gained a reputation as a capable adversary for the Sri Lankan Navy. During the civil war, the Sea Tigers had sunk at least 29 Sri Lankan small inshore patrol boats, 20 Dvora-class fast patrol boats, 3 gunboats, 2 Large surveillance command ships, and one freighter.
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On 6 April 2008, 15 people were killed by an alleged suicide bomber, who exploded himself at the start of a marathon race which was part of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebration in Weliweriya town, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's national athletics coach Lakshman de Alwis, politician Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, former Olympics runner K.A. Karunaratne and army officer Lt Colonel Udayadeera were killed in the bombing which wounded 90 others. The Sri Lankan Government has blamed the Tamil Tigers for this attack because Minister Fernandopulle was a vocal critic of the Tamil Tigers.
The Fort railway station bombing was a suicide bombing of a commuter train while it was stopped at the Fort railway station, the main station in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on February 3, 2008. The bombing killed 12 civilians and injured more than 100. Killed in the attack were eight school children of D. S. Senanayake College's baseball team and their coach/teacher-in-charge.
The following lists notable events that took place during 2009 in Sri Lanka.
The history of Sri Lanka from 1948 to the present is marked by the independence of the country through to Dominion and becoming a Republic.
Suicide Bombing was a popular tactic of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of attacking enemies to maximize enemy casualties and minimize attacker's casualties.
Terrorism in Sri Lanka has been a highly destructive phenomenon during the 20th and 21st centuries, especially so during the periods of the Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009) and the first (1971) and second JVP insurrections (1987–1989). A common definition of terrorism is the systematic or threatened use of violence to intimidate a population or government for political, religious, or ideological goals. Sri Lanka is a country that has experienced some of the worst known acts of modern terrorism, such as suicide bombings, massacres of civilians and assassination of political and social leaders. Terrorism has posed a significant threat to the society, economy and development of the country. The Prevention of Terrorism Act of 1978 is the legislation that provides the powers to law enforcement officers to deal with issues related to terrorism in Sri Lanka. It was first enacted as a temporary law in 1979 under the presidency of J. R. Jayewardene, and later made permanent in 1982.
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On 24 October 1994, Sri Lankan parliamentarian Gamini Dissanayake was assassinated by a suicide bomber sent by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Dissanayake was Leader of the Opposition in parliament, and the United National Party's nominee for that year's presidential election. The explosion, set off at a late-night campaign rally in northern Colombo, killed a total of 52 and injured more than 200, with 75 sustaining serious injuries. Among the dead were several other key members of Dissanayake's party.