“A suicide bomber on a motorbike detonated himself next to a police bus in downtown Colombo on May 16 at 12:00 noon. According to Defense Ministry spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, six policemen and two civilians were killed and 75 to 80 persons were injured. Subsequent media reports put the figure at seven police and two civilians killed. Rambukwella attributed the attack to the LTTE. The blast took place on Lotus Road, approximately a mile and a half from the Embassy and 100 yards from the rear entrance of the Hilton Hotel.” the US Embassy Colombo informed Washington.
The Colombo Telegraph found the related leaked cable from the WikiLeaks database. The cable was signed by the US Ambassador to Colombo,Robert O. Blake on May 16, 2008.
The Embassy wrote; “Ambassador expressed condolences to Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the loss of life. The Defense Secretary said the police bus was likely a target of opportunity for the suicide bomber since the incident occurred on a route not normally traveled by police buses. He speculated that the bomber may have been en route to another target. The attack took place the day before a long weekend leading up to the celebration on May 19 of Vesak, the most important Buddhist holiday of the year.”
Ben Hurling / May 16, 2014
BBC always refered to LTTE monekys behind this type of attacks in Sri Lanka as rebels. Not terrorrists.
However, according to the same BBC, IRA are terrorists.
Those who conducted 7/11 bus bombings in London were also terrorists.
I repeat, LTTE monkeys were not terrorists, but rebles. Acording to BBC logic or is it British logic.
Frances Harrison where were you?
Cheers!
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Mikhael / May 16, 2014
Silly Ben! Only the IRA were terrorists, not the peace loving British soldiers that viciously killed 26 civil rights protesters in what is known as Bloody Sunday.
People like to talk about the media bias in Sri Lanka. But the pro-Royal British media? I wonder who talks about that?
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Ben Hurling / May 16, 2014
Silly Mike,
Gald you raised the point. Which brings us to another important fact about these condescending, preaching Brits.
Bloody Sunday was not properly investigated and truth was not revealed for decades. Apparently for British national security reasons.
How’s dat for all their screams about “accountability and reconciliation” in SL?
I agree both IRA & British Army have both remarkable qualities. Usually displayed only by blood thirsty saddists.
Cheers!
PS: This in no way means SL should follow UK’s terrible example. I am just sayin’. Hypocrisy is hypocrisy.
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Palmsquirrell / May 17, 2014
The Brits never slaughtered people in manner and scale of GOSL in 2009. GOSL’s atrocities are in a league of their own.
Compare the 40,000+ civilians slaughtered by GOSL in No Fire Zone to the 26 civilians the British killed. Only a Sinhala supremacist would try to equate the 2.
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sach / May 19, 2014
may be because 40,000 didnt got killed. and the reason ppl died is because your ltte pussies hide behind them
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Palmsquirrell / May 17, 2014
BBC and Reuters refer to Taleban ,AQ and Iraqi militas by their given name or as rebels and insurgents.
Terrrorist is a biased political term so news media that tries to retain a semlance of balance shouldn’t use it.
You have an issue with LTTE not being called terrorists but you don’t have an issue with GOSL not being referred to as Terrorists.
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aratai / May 16, 2014
.
LTTE attack: 7 Policemen, 2 Civilians
Today is the day, boat Kumudhini was attacked and 36 Tamil Civilians were hacked to death by Sri Lankan navy.
:-)
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Paul / May 16, 2014
Aratai, the smile of the Tiger. Shameful.
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ela kolla / May 16, 2014
aratai,navy had done a favor for them by providing free passage to meet their gods in hell…you should be thankful for that
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Tamodaya / May 16, 2014
Well done SLN!!
More the merrier!
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Tamil from the North / May 17, 2014
@tamodaya, aren’t you that little prostitute called fathima fukushima? now you have changed your name???
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Tamodaya / May 16, 2014
Tit for tat killings.
The minority dies first.
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K.A Sumanasekera / May 16, 2014
Thank God our inhabitants have been spared this horrible suffering for the last five years, since the perpetrators of these dastardly crimes were eliminated.
Yet poor Inhabitants of Iraq go through this or even worse bombings on a monthly basis since Mr Blakes bosses liberated them.
On this up coming anniversary of the demise of the Terrorists, our inhabitants must go to their places of worship and pray that this sort of evil deeds will never happen again.
And they also must realize that there are remnants and associates of these terrorists still lurking in the shadows among them and their handlers living comfortable lives in the West waiting for any opportunities to strike back..
That requires all time vigilance from the inhabitants to ensure they and the future generations are kept safe and protected from terrorism going forward.
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Observer / May 16, 2014
@aratai Don’t play numbers game mate, its shameful. Just to counter your argument, that was not the only instance LTTE took away valuable lives. And yes, that weren’t the only 36 people, who were Tamils, died during the war either.
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Sumadha perera / May 17, 2014
Today is the day, boat Kumudhini was attacked and 36 Tamil Civilians were hacked to death by Sri Lankan navy.
Bull…$hi…t. That Have done by the LTTE terrorist to tarnish SLN and government.
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A Tamil / May 18, 2014
Was it a LTTE blast or a staged one? We are sure Secretary of Defence would have had the best security not second to President or any other person. Yet he is the victim. No doubt he he would have been travelling in a bullet poof vehicle its is common knowledge the roads were closed at least half an hour before VIP convoy passes and there are more than one dummy vehicle in the convey, despite of all these the blast kills and injures some, fortunately the DS suffers only minor injuries. There was much ado as the whereabouts of DS, especially over the TV and Radio. After about an hour or so a video clipping was shown where the DS appears with red colour stains (blood ?) on the upper arm of his shirt, apparently injured in the blast.
LTTE spotted the correct vehicle and was able to approach though the surrounding roads which were also closed at the correct time.Possible?
What happened to the bullet proof vehicle?
How did the shrapnel go through the bullet proof glasses of the vehicle?
Did you see the video clipping carefully, the shirt sleeve was not perforated, but only red colour stains as if something sprinkled, if the shirt was not perforated if so, perforated spots would appear black surrounded by blood smudge. Think!
True or false most of us believed it the discerning voices were muted by the so called patriots. The LTTE was demonizes again. And the war was won with international help.
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Siva Sankaran Sarma / May 18, 2014
Crackpot conspiracy theories aside, that’s not even the same attack, genius :D
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Dark Mark / October 12, 2014
Can somebody post the link of the leaked cable ?
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