photo by Sam de Silva. He was directly on the scene. Think he has video as well
There were reports of a bomb on Galle Road, near Dickman’s. Sam went down the street to confirm and there was indeed a car bomb with at least one person obviously dead and melted into the car. It seems like there were two people killed. I believe he has some photos and could file a much more comprehensive report later. This is speculation, but I’m unclear as to why they would bomb Dickman’s road, though Douglas Devananda (Tamil MP) does live there. I occassionally work in an office just up the street and I never thought that street would be a target. There is a school nearby and houses of a few people I know. I’m guessing traffic is buggered around there. Suppose leave comments if you have any information.
I’ve heard the bodyguard died, and that they laid a claymore. A freaking claymore on Dickman’s Road.
For photo rights and what contact sam@media.com.au.
photo by Sam de Silva
photo by Sam de Silva
photo by Sam de Silva
You beat the Beeb to this report but Tamilnet has you whupped. How do those chaps source their data so damn fast?
Isn’t he the cousin or close friend of that other Tamil politician? (My knowledge of politics is a little limited.. Gimme time)
Oh this dude: Sankarapillai Sivathasan?
A friend sent me set of pictures taken at the site, and it’s said that it was aimed at EPDP member with the name of P. Sivadasen.
Yes, Indi Douglas Devananda (Tamil MP) does live there. Don’t take this as an offense, but you should have written “Douglas Devananda (EPDP MP) does live there”
Beacuse when you say “Douglas Devananda (Tamil MP) does live there”, some one (may be a foriegner) who don’t know who Douglas Devananda is and why he had been a target of LTTE for years, would think the bomb was aimed at “a Tamil MP” by “Sinhalese”
If that is the message you wanted to pass, that’s ok.
According to the news we get, an innocent child was a victim of this too. (I haven’t got sufficient reports on that yet).
What ever said and done, terrorists keep on killing all their opponents, at the cost of lives of few civilians passing near by. I thing, now it’s time to say “ENOUGH” for “Terrorism”.
It was supposedly aimed at Sivadasan and he is admitted to the hospital. EPDP has no information about his condition.
I think they’re, um, closer to the source. Tamilnet story. Good job with the hyperlinking 10.
‘A senior EPDP official and six others were wounded in a bomb explosion in Colombo around 2:00 p.m. Tuesday. The EPDP official, Sankarapillai Sivathasan, a long time EPDP advisor, a relative of EPDP leader Douglas Devandanda, and a former parliamentarian of the EPDP, was rushed to Colombo hospital. The explosion took place opposite a restaurant on Dickmans Road in Bambalapitya.’
Some reports say one man dead. Others say man and child. Reuters report an eye witness seeing the dead child.
tv shows a body of a child near the blast. reporters say there is dead body inside the vehicle
tamilnet story is not in their front page as yet..
i think mtv news at 55 at 2.55 had this first just five min. reportedly after the blast. it only said there was reports of a exploding sound from bambalapitiya.
swarnawahini had a list of of injured (4) from hospital admission list at about 3.30, i think it included the former epdp mp’s name and probably two police officers. and another child.
seven people injured according to Dr.Anil Jaasinghe
Heard that it happened in front of Amrith’s [restaurant]. I cannot confirm that, though. Based on what I saw, it seems like the bomb might have actually been further down the road towards Havelock Road. Sorry, I didn’t stop to gawk or take pictures.
However, I went past the area around 1530 or so and traffic was normal for that time. Dickman’s Road was closed off from the Havelock Rd traffic light. A couple of coppers on either end of the road wave off people who try to turn down Dickman’s Road.
The army were doing sweeps around the Skelton Road area when I went past as well, but otherwise things are almost normal. I think even the traffic light junction intersecting Duplication Road should be open by now, but I cannot confirm that either. Unless there is a massive rush down Duplication Road in a couple of hours, I don’t see how traffic could be snarled up significantly. I think even the 112 buses take an alternative route to Galle Road at the moment.
well there you go – tamilnet is taking photos of suicide children to promote the ltte – truly whatever next.
The only way to get in first on these stories of Sri Lankans dying all over the show – must be to hang out with … hmmm – the ltte or the SL army? Employers of choice no matter what bloody trade you’re in!
Just a matter of timing then – get the photo, then you post it on your blog – get a lot of comments – yadah, yadah, yadah…
take care bloggers – don’t forget you live in a war zone.
i thought Douglas D used to live down Park Road..
I thought he lived down Park Road as well, this is a stones throw from my house and gave me kittens when I saw the news and resulted in some very frantic phone calls…this is just like the bad old days of the nineties :(
No offence, but did you really need to publish photos of the burnt victim? Sure, you want to bring the magnitude of the atrocity to the people who weren’t there..but to me, it feels like a gross violation of respect for the victim to publish these photos…and very very wrong.
If that victim had been someone I knew personally and someone I loved I would not like to see him like this. Just the van wreck would have said a powerful enough story.
That’s what anyone walking down Dickman’s Road would see. I understand that it’s a blurry line but I’d rather err on the side of truth than inoffensiveness. That’s the cost of terrorism. That photo makes me physically ill in a way a burnt van doesn’t.
Actually personally I find the picture of the old man with the slain child much more disturbing and powerful, the sad incredulity of his face at what has happened is heartbreaking