Sri Lanka It's Happening

April 26, 2006

The president's house is on the same street as the Central Bank. They are both just a stone's throw from the entrance to the Colombo port and the president's office. The army headquarters and airforce headquarters are with in walking distance, so is the police headquarters. The police headquarters is very close to the supreme court. In the midst of all this there is an army detachment and some navy offices.

So you might thing that this is the high security zone. It is. There are dozens of checkpoints ringing this area. So you might think it would be pretty hard for the LTTE carry out a bombing in this part of Colombo think again.

Yesterdays bomb attack on the army commander took place in front of the army hospital. A few years ago, another suicide bomber blew herself up almost on the exact same spot.

Go down this road and you will come to the galle face green. According to a plaque on the green, it's center is just one mile from the president's house. It was here that a Navy commander was killed many years go. That was right in front of the Taj. The Taj has been running at loss ever since.

Drive through the galle face center road and you see the army dettachment on your right hand side, passing that, you come to the president's office and then to the central bank. It was here that a truck bomb went off in 1996 killing more than a 100 and injuring a 1000. That attack knocked out the banking system for a few days.

The central bank is on the 'janadhipathi mawatha' (the president's road). One oend of janadhipathi mawatha is closed off because of the president's house. So you need to take a detour, the road that goes in fron of the world trade center. The WTC was the target of another bomb. Fortunately it was on a holiday and that saved the lives of thousands.

The WTC is clearly visible from the Central Telegraph Office (a part of Sri Lanka Telecom). Another bomb went off at the CTO in the late 80s. You can walk from the CTO to the central bus stand, which is practically next to the Police headquarters. One of the LTTE's first suicide bombings happened opposite the bus stand.

Posted by raditha at April 26, 2006 1:08 AM