2006 Digampathana bombing

The 2006 Digampathana truck bombing, also known as Habarana massacre,^[1] was a suicide truck bombing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam against a convoy of 15 military buses on 16 October 2006 at Digampathana, in between the towns of Dambulla and Habarana, in Sri Lanka. The buses were carrying more than 200 (possibly 340^[2]) sailors from Trincomalee who were going on leave.^[3]

The bombing killed between 92 and 103 sailors and wounded more than 150 people, including over 100 sailors.^[4] The bombing also killed a number of civilians, including eight employees of the Sri Lankan military,^[3] and wounded many passers-by and roadside traders.^[2] The suicide bombing was the deadliest in Sri Lanka since the bombing of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on 31 January 1996 (which killed 90 and injured 1,400) and followed intense fighting in the Jaffna Peninsula that left 133 soldiers^[5] and up to 200 LTTE fighters dead (although this number is unofficial, as the LTTE have reported losing only 22 fighters).^[6] The attack was followed by government air strikes on LTTE territory, although the military claimed they were in response to an artillery attack and not the suicide bombing.^[7]

In Jan 2009 Sri Lankan authorities arrested a suspect, Balachandran, who reportedly helped construct the bomb used in the attack.^[8] The attack had been planned at least three months in advance.^[9]

See also

• List of massacres in Sri Lanka
• List of attacks attributed to the LTTE
• List of attacks attributed to Sri Lankan government forces

References