Bomb in Kollupitiya
all photos by Deshan Tennekoon. Bombing photos on Flickr
I hear there’s been a bomb in Kollupitiya, near Liberty Plaza. I am nowhere near so no photos or news or what it is. What’s above is the only photo of Liberty Plaza, that being the inexplicable marijuana lighting they put up round Christmas time. Deshan has sent me photos now, uploading them. I dunno what target is there, there’s a mosque and a bunch of street people hanging their laundry on the street. Or there was, back before the barricades when the 177 used to wrap around there. Liberty Plaza is a very civilian mall and there’s a movie theatre there. Maybe they didn’t approve of Krrish. I really have no idea, but I’ve heard from a couple places that’s there’s black smoke rising from the area. I guess comment if you have any info and and mail me any photos if you have.
Update:: Now I’ve heard that it was an army jeep or something near the junction. FYI, that junction is pretty seminal. It leads to Galle Road on one end, Duplication Road on the other and then whatever that other road is that I’m on all the time. There’s a lot of traffic, especially at this time, and I hope too many people weren’t hurt.
Up2date: Deshan poked his head out the window and got these shots. I’ve marked on the map the angle that the photos were taken from and where I think the bomb was. Note that I’m totally not sure. Liberty Plaza is the mall on the right, where the Dialog GSM sign is. To the left you can see Liberty Cinema, and that washed out gray building in the foreground corresponds to the red blotch below the arrowhead on the map. Map from hot-maps.de.
For a personal note, the place I do most of my banking is directly to the left of that ICICI sign and I’m having dinner at a house about 25 yards north of the bomb site, er, tonight. There’s also a school nearby, a lot of offices, shops and normal normal people. The 177 bus takes that road (I think, usually get off before). There are a lot of civilians around there and it’s a shitty place for the LTTE (or whoever) to target. This is the second time they’ve targeted residential/commercial/normal areas in as many weeks.
I recently wrote about gay marriage, which is not even on the radar in Sri Lanka. But we have another type of marriage discrimination here as well. Foreign marriage. If you marry someone non Sri Lankan, they can never become a citizen. Their lives and their rights to even be in the same country as their children are permanently unstable, and it’s patently unfair.
When 
I started off not really liking General Sarath Fonseka, him being part of the aggressive war effort. I didn’t support the war (largely cause I thought it would fail), and I thought Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Fonseka were gleefully stomping everything. Fonseka even came out and said “I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people,” in 2008 (
General Sarath Fonseka was arrested on a bunch of trumped up charges, but mainly for daring to threaten Mahinda in a Presidential election. Despite his poor health, Fonseka was arrested in February 2010 and sentence to three years. Word on the street now, however, is that he’ll be released soon. Like any day now. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has told 
7 people have died?
Among the dead are STF guys
Near the Pentecost Building and the Capri Hotel. Two bombs in a tuk tuk
AlertNet
The names of the injured are being announced on tv. So far only three names. It was also said that one deceased is a woman from Kotte.
I think you’re right, I updated the map. If it was on Dharmapala Mawatha that’d be directly in front of my bank and like Dinemor. I’m pretty sure Dwellings is on Green Path as well. I’m not 100% sure either.
I’m confused now. Isn’t this the road passing Dwellings leading towards LP?
About time the war came to colombo – people in the North East have been going though terrible suffering the last one month and the people in the south need to taste a bit of this – otherwise this war will never end.
Yes, Green Path is the road that Dwellings is on. Looks like the explosion was close to Dwellings, judging by where the smoke is coming from in the photos.
Yes it was on Green Path. The junction is a convergence of Green Path, Dharmapala Mawatha, Duplication Road and the stretch of Dharmpala that leads to Galle Road.
The explosion happened on the side opposite HSBC, i.e. – the back end of the Capri Club (or the front end not sure). 7 dead 17 injured at last count. Claymore in a trishaw apparently. All unconfirmed except the location.
i wouldnt have recognised the liberty cinema from any of those pictures.. not even with the Liberty sign :(
anyone thinks indian intelligence has a hand in this??? Bashir wali mohamed is a former pak military chief and a man indian politicos love to hate…
The target is alleged to be the High Commisioner of Pakistan. The reason may be due to the fact that Pakistan sells the GOvernment of Sri Lanka arms . This can be construed as an attack against Islam, the ethnic cleansing of the muslims has been happenin the Mutur recently. The muslims there have been forced to flee. Terrible stories emanating from Kantlale from Muslim refugges which are reminiscent of the holocaust.
The LTTE not content with targetting the Sinhalaese have now begun the systamatic anahilation of the muslims. Pakistan should be extra vigilent as the LTTE seem to have taken this war to a divverent level now. This should be seen as a direct attack against the people of Pakistan and its government.
a little too far fetched Tina, but the target is puzzling nevertheless. You might want
i think the last thing LTTE would want is to get another government agitated.
The theory of this bomb blast being “an attack against Islam”:
1. Target is Pakistan HC
2. Pakistan sells arms to SL govt
3. “Ethnic cleansing of the muslims in Muttur happening recently”
4. Muslims have been forced to flee – “reminiscent of holocaust”
CONCLUSION: this bomb blast “is an attack against Islam”
My question: By WHO?? How does this make sense? I’m (easily) confused ;o(
More likely reason for the attack is the obvious – to send a message: Pakistan provides the SL military hardware – at least that’s what a “defense analyst” has said in the report on AlerNet.
And didn’t Pakistan say something about fighting terrorism “together” when Rajapakse visited Pakistan this April??
whether or not its an ‘attack against islam’ it certainly was an attack against pakistan.
intended target the pakistan high commissioner said to bbc he thought this was because of the pakistani government’s support of the sri lankan government in its war against terrorism, implying it is ltte.
with terrorists everywhere ( ltte in particular) the first instinct is to resort to violence and threats when they want make demand or point. it simply doesn’t matter what agreements they have signed or what is acceptable to rest of humanity.
Hi Guys,
Why cant the Air Force Destroy the Tiger 130mm and 122mm guns that are firing on them in the North ? Cant they see them firing from the Kfir Jets ? Just Curious Guys !
thanks for the pics man i was so confused wiht location
Deanne we may have to agree to disagree on that.. how many times have mulisms been ethnically cleansed from LTTE areas. Katankudy mosque massace. ethnic cleaning of muslims in Jaffna when they were given only 24 hours to leave their homes and lives and most recently Muttur. If the LTTE did not have a grouse against the muslims then why should they have committed the above mentioned henious crimes.
Deanne?? its pronounced Dean. :P
ne way, i think we should keep the rhetoric in check Tina. doesnt serve the purposes of anyone, except the extremists forces.
“The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force.”
Adolf Hitler
i meant Deen. sorry for the spam.
it is bc ppl ignored hitler’s actions and pronouncements, and appeased him ( in 1938 for instance when large parts of then czechoslovakia was handed over him by other powers on ethnic grounds ) that he was able to grow stronger and eventually carry out ‘ethnic cleansing’
it would be ironic if we ignore or appease ltte here bc of some thing hitler said.
Well, whatever says whoever, we ‘Colomboians’ had to wait until we had the war at our doorstep [claymores on 'fucking' Dickman's Road and now at Kollpetty] to realize what kind of ordeal some of our own countrymen have been in till now.
Well, we ‘Colomboians’ have had it on our doorstep many times before (Central Bank, Kolonnawa, High Level Road), remember? Has it changed anything? Just new generations complaining about the same ol’ shit.
[...] Just getting tenative reports, but a friend sent me a text at 10h40 saying, ‘Heard a big explosion from my house, then what sounded like gunfire. Maybe fire crackers who knows’. Didn’t think much of it, but then I got more reports that something was going on, and now the phone lines are clogged. He’s on 5th Lane and he seems to think the bomb was on Flower Road. Apparently it was on Dharmapala Mawatha and was an attempt on Gotabaya Rajapakse’s life. That would be another attack on Kollupitiya. That being the President’s brother and Defense Minister. Please leave comments if you know anything or hear anything on the radio. I’ll keep an eye on Jasmine to start, and LBO used to be pretty fast. ChaarMax reported it first. Hope you and yours are safe from harm. [...]