The following are notable (non-state)
terrorist incidents that have occurred in
Sri Lanka. The list is in chronological order and does not include attacks against
military bases or military personnel, who were engaged in duty during the Sri Lankan Civil War and JVP insurrections.
A number of terrorists attacks have occurred in Sri Lanka, especially during the periods of the
Sri Lankan Civil War and the
second JVP insurrection. Sri Lanka has experienced some of the worst terrorist attacks that have occurred worldwide, with 100 or more fatalities over the last 100 years.[1][2]
Police Constable A. Karunandhi is shot to death for investigating crimes committed by the LTTE. This attack would be one of the events leading to the
1977 anti-Tamil pogrom.[4][5]
A team of four CID officers: Bastianpillai, Perampalan,
Police Sergeant Balasingham and
Police ConstableSriwardene, were massacred by Uma Maheswaran and other LTTE members.[6][7]
LTTE cadres invaded Anuradhapura town and opened fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons killing and wounding many civilians. Then they drove to the sacred Buddhist shrine
Sri Maha Bodhi and gunned down nuns, monks and civilians who were worshiping there.[16][17][18]
LTTE cadres mutilated and killed 33 young Buddhist monks and their mentor, Ven. Hegoda Sri Indrasara Thera, who was the chief priest of Vidyananda Pirivena, Ampara.[24][unreliable source?]
Armed cadres of JVP attacked the Magazine Prison, a maximum security prison and also the largest prison in Sri Lanka. 170 suspected JVP cadres managed to escape from the prison by this attack.[27][28]
LTTE cadres killed of over 147 Muslim men and boys in a mosque in Kattankudy.[18][34] Around 30 Tamil Tigers raided four mosques in the town of Kattankudy, where over 300 people were prostrating in
Isha prayers.
At least 19 people, including Sri Lankan Deputy Defence Minister
Ranjan Wijeratne were killed in an LTTE car bomb explosion. A further 73 people were injured.[35]
A large group of about 200–300 LTTE members attacked
Muslim villages and killed 172 civilians (171 of which were Muslims), while 83 others were injured.[36][37]
LTTE suicide bomber assassinated Sri Lankan president
Ranasinghe Premadasa while he was participating in a May Day rally. 22 others were also killed in the blast.[38][39]
LTTE cadres massacred 42 men, women and children in Kallarawa, a small fishing village located 35 km away from
Trincomalee. Victims were mainly Sinhalese and belonged to the fishing community.[42][43]
Suicide cadres of the LTTE attacked the oil storage complexes at Kolonnawa and Orugodawatta. They managed to blew themselves up destroying the tanks. 22 security personnel died by this attack and petroleum oil worth over US $10 million were destroyed.[45]
A truck containing about 440 pounds of high explosives crashed through the main gate of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. The blast killed at least 91 people and injured 1,400 others.[46][47]
A train bombing resulted in 64 civilian deaths and wounding 400 others. The attack was carried out by LTTE operatives who placed suitcase bombs in four carriages on a commuter train. It was the first time to use the technique of simultaneously exploding multiple bombs in trains.[48][49]
The LTTE drove a container truck laden with explosives into the car park of Galadari Hotel in Colombo. Then they attacked the Colombo World Trade Centre, twin 39-story towers, situated in close proximity to the hotel. The attack killed 15 people and 105 were wounded including many British tourists.[50][51]
the LTTE exploded a massive truck bomb inside the Temple of the Tooth premises, which was to be the centre of the independence day celebrations.[52] This was the 2nd terrorist attack on the temple.
A passenger aircraft Lionair Flight 602 disappeared from radar screens, after departing
Kankesanturai Airport in Jaffna. Initial reports indicated that the plane had been shot down by LTTE cadres using
MANPADS. All 7 crew members and 48 passengers were killed.[53][54]
The LTTE killed 61 Sinhalese people, when they attacked three villages in Gonagala Ampara District. Among the dead were 17 women and seven children. Swords and machetes were used to chop and hack the victims to death, who were dragged from sleep.[36][55][56]
Sri Lankan president
Chandrika Kumaratunga narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by a suicide bomber during an election rally at the Colombo Town Hall. The president lost one of her eyes by this attack, while 36 others died and many others were injured.[57][58]
LTTE attacked the, Bandaranaike International Airport and destroyed three passenger Air Busses and 8 military air crafts. The Airport was closed for 14 hours during and after the attack. The cost of replacing the civilian aircraft was estimated at $350 million USD.[59][60][61]
68 civilians were killed when a civilian bus was attacked by LTTE using two
claymore mines. Among the dead were a Buddhist monk, several pregnant women and 15 schoolchildren.[62][63]
A convoy carrying the
PakistaniHigh Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Bashir Wali Mohamed, was attacked by a claymore mine concealed within an auto rickshaw. The High Commissioner escaped unhurt, but seven people were killed and a further 17 were injured in the blast.[64]
The 2006 Digampathana truck bombing, also known as Habarana massacre, was a suicide truck bombing carried out by the LTTE against a convoy of 15 military buses at Digampathana in Sri Lanka. The buses were carrying more than 200 sailors from Trincomalee who were going on leave. The bombing killed 103 and wounded more than 150 people.[65]
A suicide bombing of a commuter train while it was stopped at the Fort Railway Station, Colombo, killed 11 and injured 92.[70][71] Killed in the attack were eight school children of
D. S. Senanayake College's
baseball team and their coach.
Another bombing of a commuter train, running from Colombo to Panadura on May 26, 2008, in Dehiwala, Sri Lanka, killed 8 people and injured around 80.[77][78]
The Sri Lankan government blamed LTTE militants for a bomb explosion that occurred aboard a commuter bus, only a few hours after the attack in Moratuwa.[80]
A LTTE suicide bomber caused an explosion at an Islamic religious parade near Godapitiya Jumma mosque in Akuressa, Southern Sri Lanka, killing 14 and injuring 35 civilians. Several government ministers were among the injured while few local politicians died from the attack.[82][83]
On 21 April 2019,
Easter Sunday, a series of explosions occurred at three Christian churches and three hotels across Sri Lanka. Later that day, smaller explosions occurred at a housing complex and a motel, killing mainly police investigating the situation, raiding suspect locations. Several cities in
Sri Lanka, including the commercial capital
Colombo, were targeted. At least 310 people, including over 30 foreign nationals, were killed and more than 469 were wounded in the bombings.[85][86][87][88][89] The church bombings occurred during
Eastermasses in
Negombo,
Batticaloa and Colombo while the hotels targeted included the
Shangri-La,
Cinnamon Grand and
Kingsbury hotels in Colombo.[90][91][92]
^Rajasingham, K. T. "Chapter 32: Limbo between war and peace".
Sri Lanka: The Untold Story. Archived from the original on 2002-10-01.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)