Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the dead included seven police personnel and two civilians, besides the Black Tiger. Over 90 were injured in the massive blast heard across the city.
Many civilians were among those hurt and some were in critical state at the National Hospital, he said.
“The LTTE suicide bomber rammed his motorbike into a bus carrying police personnel,” Brig Nanayakkara said.
The pro-LTTE TamilNet website however said the killer had used a three-wheeler (autorickshaw) to ram into the bus. The police personnel were on their way to provide additional security for the swearing-in ceremony of former Tamil Tiger Pillaiyan as the chief minister of the newly elected Eastern Province, at the Presidential Secretariat later in the evening.
The attack took place across a Buddhist temple in the highly guarded Fort area of Colombo’s commercial zone dotted by army and police checkposts. Apart from the residence of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the area also houses the five-star Hilton Hotel and the twin-tower World Trade Centre office complex—a previous target of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The blast site appeared like a battlefield strewn with shattered glass and twisted metal, not to forget the dead and the injured.
Appealing to the people to remain calm “and not be provoked by this further display of unmitigated terror”, President Rajapaksa said, “With this bomb attack on a busy street, the LTTE has once again demonstrated to the world its total commitment to violence and terror to achieve its separatist goals in Sri Lanka, and its absolute contempt for democracy and human rights.” The Black Tiger hit was obviously meant to demonstrate the LTTE anger at the Pillaiyan swearing-in and also its claim to be able to strike anywhere, any time.
It was the third big LTTE attack in a week—a bomb had ripped through a crowded café in the eastern town of Ampara on the eve of the May 10 provincial elections, killing 12 and injuring over 36.
And just hours before the polling started, a Sea Tiger suicide diver sank a naval ship docked in the eastern port of Trincomalee.
The government, however, is putting up a brave front in the midst of these deadly hits by the Black Tigers..
Prime minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake earlier this week ruled out resumption of peace talks with the Tigers and declared that victory “is within the grasp of our heroic security forces.” He had also claimed that the days of the LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran “are numbered”.