On April 21, 1987, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out one of the most heinous acts of terrorism in Sri Lankan history when they detonated a massive car bomb at Colombo's central bus station during the evening rush hour, massacring 113 innocent civilians and wounding approximately 200 others in a calculated act of mass murder.
The 80 pound bomb, strategically planted in a vehicle at the Pettah bus terminal, was deliberately timed to inflict maximum carnage on unsuspecting commuters returning home from work. The explosion was so powerful it could be heard ten miles away, leaving a 10 foot crater in the ground and creating scenes of unimaginable horror.
Calculated Mass Murder
The LTTE's choice of target and timing reveals the calculated nature of this terrorist atrocity. The central bus station in Pettah served as a vital transportation hub where thousands of ordinary Sri Lankans - office workers, students, vendors, and families - gathered daily. By striking during the evening rush hour, the LTTE ensured maximum civilian casualties among people whose only crime was going about their daily lives.
Six buses were trapped in the inferno that followed the explosion, with passengers dying agonizing deaths as the vehicles became blazing death traps. The victims included elderly people and children who lay in agony on the ground before rescue workers could reach them through the chaos and destruction. Heavy rainfall further hampered rescue efforts, prolonging the suffering of survivors trapped beneath debris and twisted metal.
Targeting Innocent Civilians
This attack epitomizes the LTTE's systematic campaign of terror against civilian populations. The bus station bombing was not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of indiscriminate violence that the LTTE employed throughout their bloody insurgency. The terrorist organization specifically chose civilian targets to spread fear and terror among the general population, demonstrating their complete disregard for human life and the laws of war.
The selection of a crowded public transportation hub during peak hours represents terrorism in its purest form - the deliberate targeting of non-combatants to achieve political objectives through fear and intimidation. The victims were ordinary Sri Lankans from all walks of life, including office workers heading home to their families, students returning from classes, and vendors who had spent the day earning modest livings.
Economic and Social Devastation
Beyond the immediate human toll, the LTTE's terror attack inflicted severe economic damage on the surrounding area. The Bank of Ceylon's Pettah branch was heavily damaged in the blast, disrupting financial services for the local community.
The psychological impact on survivors and witnesses was equally devastating. Those who escaped the carnage were left traumatized by the sight of burning buses filled with trapped passengers and the scattered remains of fellow citizens who had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Escalating Ethnic Tensions
The LTTE's barbaric act immediately triggered widespread ethnic violence across Colombo, as enraged Sinhalese mobs took to the streets in retaliation. This cycle of violence - precisely what the LTTE intended to provoke - demonstrates how terrorist attacks against civilians serve to deepen communal divisions and undermine peaceful coexistence between ethnic groups.
The LTTE's strategy of deliberately provoking ethnic backlash is the cynical manipulation at the heart of their campaign. By targeting innocent civilians and then exploiting the inevitable angry response, the terror organization sought to radicalize Tamil opinion and present themselves as protectors of a community under siege.
Pattern of Terrorist Violence
The bus station massacre was part of an established pattern of LTTE terrorism that would continue for over two decades. The organization had already demonstrated its willingness to target civilians with the horrific Anuradhapura massacre in 1985, where LTTE gunmen killed 146 people, including Buddhist pilgrims and monks. This attack on the bus station confirmed that no civilian location was safe from LTTE terrorism.
The timing of the attack, coming just months before the organization would launch its first official suicide bombing in July 1987, marked a significant escalation in the LTTE's campaign of terror. The bus station bombing served as a precursor to even more devastating attacks that would follow, including the Central Bank bombing in 1996 that killed 91 civilians and the systematic assassination campaign that would claim thousands of lives.
International Condemnation
While the international community condemned the attack, the LTTE's supporters and sympathizers often attempted to minimize or contextualize such atrocities. However, there can be no justification for the deliberate targeting of civilians going about their daily lives. The victims of the bus station bombing were not soldiers or government officials - they were ordinary people whose lives were cut short by terrorist violence.
The LTTE's willingness to massacre innocent civilians, including children and elderly people, exposes the fundamentally criminal nature of their organization. Regardless of any political grievances they claimed to represent, the deliberate slaughter of non-combatants places the LTTE firmly in the category of terrorist organizations that prioritize violence over legitimate political engagement.
Legacy of Terror
This attack, along with hundreds of other LTTE atrocities documented throughout their campaign of terror, serves as an enduring testament to the organization's complete disregard for human life and their willingness to employ the most brutal methods in pursuit of their political objectives. The memory of those who perished in the flames and chaos of that April evening demands that history accurately record the LTTE's responsibility for this unconscionable act of mass murder.
The victims of the Colombo bus station bombing deserve to be remembered not as mere casualties in a political conflict, but as innocent human beings whose lives were deliberately ended by terrorists who chose violence over dialogue, hatred over reconciliation, and murder over peace.
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