Central Bank bombing

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The skyline of the fort area, the twin towers are the World Trade Center building and the other tower is the Bank of Ceylon

The Central Bank bombing was one of the deadliest guerrilla attacks of the Seperatist 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.

The blast killed 90 people and injured 1,400 others. Most of these were bystanders or civilians manning small shops set up near the bank. The Sri Lankan government arrested two suspects immediately after the attack, and launched a massive manhunt for others. It was eventually determined the bombers had come from Jaffna, in the north of the country.

This bombing, and one in July on a train that killed more than 70, caused tourism to plummet 40% in Sri Lanka. Until 2006, the Central Bank bombing was the deadliest LTTE bombing of the civil war.