Английская Википедия:2008 Piliyandala bus bombing

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Шаблон:Infobox civilian attack

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,[1] 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.[2]

The bombing took place amid a government offensive against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the island's north.[3]

Details

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.[4] 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.[3]

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.[1][3]

Lakshman Hulugalle, a spokesman for the government of Sri Lanka, blamed the LTTE for the attack,[3] 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.[4]

President Mahinda Rajapaksa later echoed these sentiments,[5] claiming that the LTTE "had once again resorted to killing innocent civilians in the face of heavy setbacks on the battlefield".[6]

Arrests

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.[7]

See also

References

Шаблон:Reflist

External links

Шаблон:Sri Lankan Civil War

Шаблон:Coord missing