| 2008 Piliyandala bombing | |
|---|---|
Colombo District highlighted within Sri Lanka |
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| Location | Piliyandala, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Date | April 25, 2008 18:45[1] (UTC+5:30) |
| Attack type | parcel bombing |
| Deaths | 26 |
| Injured | 64 |
| Suspected perpetrator | Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam |
The 2008 Piliyandala bombing was a bombing of a commuter bus carried out on April 25, 2008 in Piliyandala, Sri Lanka, a suburb of Colombo. The bombing killed 26 and injured at least 64,[2] and was the first major attack against civilians on the island since the April 6 Weliveriya bombing that killed Highways Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and national athletics coach Lakshman de Alwis. It was also the deadliest bus bombing since the January 16 attack on a civilian bus at Buttala.[3]
The bombing took place amid a government offensive against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the island's north.[4]
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The blast was caused by a parcel bomb deposited "on an overhead rack near the front of the bus", and took place during the evening peak hour.[5] The explosion, which came as the bus began to drive away from a bus stand in the residential neighbourhood of Piliyandala in southern Colombo, tore off the vehicle's roof and destroyed windows of nearby structures.[4]
According to police, the blast killed 26 people—ten at the scene of blast, 14 en route to hospital, and two in hospital—and injured at least 64 others. The deceased included a Buddhist monk, a 10-year-old boy and eight women.[2][4]
Lakshman Hulugalle, a spokesman for the government of Sri Lanka, blamed the LTTE for the attack,[4] stating:
With the heavy defeats that the LTTE is having in the North during the last two to three days, I think that the terrorists have again turned to [attacking] the innocent civilian who does not carry any arms or gun.[5]
President Mahinda Rajapaksa later echoed these sentiments,[6] claiming that the LTTE "had once again resorted to killing innocent civilians in the face of heavy setbacks on the battlefield".[7]
The Sri Lankan police arrested a man, Sityanadan Anandan Sudhakaran, alias Wasanthan, in connection with the bombing. He had reportedly been ordered by the LTTE leadership to bomb a bus in order to maximize casualties, and detonated the explosives via remote control.[8]