Suspected guerrillas of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) caused havoc by exploding a massive truck bomb in Colombo’s commercial Fort district at 7.00am on 15 October killing nine people and injuring 110 others including 38 foreigners.
Many buildings were extensively damaged, including the Galadari Hotel and the Twin Towers of the International Trade Centre, ceremoniously opened only three days earlier by President Chandrika Kumaratunge. The damage is estimated at Rs 350 million ($7 million).
According to the police, the guerrillas entered the government’s newspaper publishers Lake House, 300 yards east of the scene of the blast. Fighting continued for 11 hours as a special Army commando team attempted to flush them out. At 5.30 pm it was announced that three guerrillas had been killed and two others committed suicide.
In January last year, a Black Tiger suicide squad rammed a bomb truck into the Central Bank, a short distance from the current blast, killing over 80 people and wounding 1,400. As LTTE’s London representative Anton Rajah denied responsibility for the Galadari bombing, President Chandrika told journalists that the government had evidence of Tiger involvement.
Observers say the bomb was aimed at tourist hotels and the Twin Towers which housed the Central Bank, Board of Investment (BOI) and the Colombo Stock Exchange, in yet another attempt to ruin Sri Lanka’s economy. Central Bank Governor A Jayawardena maintains that the economy which slumped last year due to increasing war expenditure and prolonged drought has shown remarkable resilience and will not be affected.
But others warn of the effect on tourism and long-term foreign investment. BOI Chairman Thilan Wijesinghe is confident that committed investment projects will continue. Military top brass are anxious that a weakened economy will in turn weaken the war effort. Tour agents are worried that the world-wide publicity about the blast may affect tourism. Police reports that two more Black Tiger suicide units are at large in Colombo will deepen fears. Tourist arrivals fell by 25% after the Central Bank bomb, but rose by 20.6% in the first seven months of 1997 as compared to the same period last year.
Analysts believe that the bomb was an extension of the LTTE’s Operation Do or die in response to Army’s six-month offensive in the Vanni and have expressed fears that north-east Sinhalese border villages may now be targeted. The press says the bomb was aimed at the Galadari Hotel where a 15-member team of US Green Beret commandos was booked while on a secret mission to train Sri Lankan Army personnel.
On 8 October US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright announced that the LTTE had been placed in the US list of terrorist organisations which includes the Palestinian Hamas and the Peruvian Shining Path. While a delighted Foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar who led a two-year international campaign to proscribe the LTTE, called on expatriate Tamils to end funding the guerrillas’ war machine, the LTTE declared that that the US decision will encourage the Sri Lankan government to pursue its war policy thereby escalating the conflict.
In Colombo the security forces conducted a search immediately after the blast detaining over 500 Tamils. There are moves to impose a total ban on heavy vehicles into the city centre. The biggest ever search operation in the capital, involving over 6,000 soldiers and police was launched at 2.00am on 25 October. Tamil areas were particularly targeted and over 1,000 Tamils, including 139 women were detained.
The Defence Ministry says that those not required for further investigation will be released after interrogation. While Tamil leaders bitterly complained about harassment, Deputy Defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte maintained that the search operation was also linked to the LTTE threat to the Colombo Tamil community when government devolution proposals were before Parliament.
Justice minister GL Peiris tabled the report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Reform (PSC) in Parliament on 25 October amidst strong objections from opposition members who say no consensus has been reached on several vital issues including the unit of devolution. Parliament was adjourned without debate as chaotic scenes of protest ensued.
This illustrates the difficulties that President Chandrika Kumaratunge’s ruling People’s Alliance (PA) will face in obtaining the support of the opposition for the two-thirds parliamentary majority needed. Analysts believe that the PA will not be able to overcome the legal technicalities in changing the constitution and with only three years before the general elections vote-grabbing will become more important for all political parties. That means continuing the "war for peace strategy" and the likelihood of more bombs in the capital.