The male suicide bomber had been posing as a beggar and was being questioned by a suspicious policeman in front of the hospital. People say that two accomplices fled from the scene when the bomb was detonated. The police believe the LTTE carried out the attack and that a number of Tiger suicide units are in the capital seeking high profile targets. The LTTE has carried out many suicide attacks in Colombo resulting in the death of a large number of civilians.
Observers suspect that the bomber was waiting for Health minister Nimal Siripala de Silva whose ministry office is in the area. He was scheduled to pass the Eye Hospital to reach his office. The security forces believe that the bomber arrived in the capital an year ago and lived in a lodge. The police summoned over 100 lodge owners on 22 September and warned them not to accommodate any person from the north-east without proof of police registration.
Earlier in the month, Deputy Inspector General Bodhi Liyanage warned that 23 LTTE suicide units and 15 spies had infiltrated Colombo to disrupt elections. At Kalmunai in Batticaloa District, the Police intercepted two powerful bombs on 14 September, destined for Colombo. Police also say that following the arrest of a Tamil youth in Pettah commercial district on 28 September, a ‘suicide kit’ was found inside a television.
Six Tamil youths were arrested during a search operation in Wellawatte suburb in early September. Sources say five of them were waiting to travel abroad and the other is a travel agent. Following the suicide bomb attack, over 100 Tamils were taken into custody. It has been brought to the notice of the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRC) that brothers M Rathakrishnan and M Sasikumar who worked in a shop in Jampettah Street have been arrested by Kotahena police.
The security forces conducted a search operation in Galle District on 2 October and arrested seven Tamil youths. Three electricity transformers were blasted with bombs on 17 September in Hill Country’s Passara region, seven miles south-east of Badulla. The police blame the LTTE. Search operations were carried out on tea estates in the area and ten Tamil youths were taken into custody.
In early September, Tamil political parties demanded the Commissioner of Prisons that Tamil detainees should be allowed to vote in the general elections. The Commissioner says that there is no legal provision to allow detainees to vote. According to reports there are currently 4,000 Tamils in detention, most without trial, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and Emergency regulations.