A remote-controlled car bomb killed Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ranjan Wijeratne and 18 others in a targeted LTTE assassination during Colombo rush hour.
Key Facts
- Date
- March 2, 1991
- Total killed
- 19 people
- Civilian bystanders killed
- 13 people
- Security personnel killed
- 5 people
- Attack method
- Remote-controlled car bomb
- Primary target
- Ranjan Wijeratne, Foreign Minister
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an armed group seeking a separate Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka, targeted Foreign Minister Ranjan Wijeratne, who was known for his hardline stance against the organization and had reportedly attempted to kill LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran during the 1990 peace process.
On the morning of March 2, 1991, during rush hour on Havelock Road in the Thimbirigasyaya suburb of Colombo, a remote-controlled car bomb was detonated as Minister Wijeratne's armored car passed by. The blast killed 19 people in total, including the minister, five of his security personnel, and 13 civilian bystanders.
The assassination eliminated one of the Sri Lankan government's most prominent hardline security figures. It underscored the LTTE's capacity to conduct high-profile targeted attacks in the capital and deepened the ongoing civil conflict between the government and Tamil separatist forces.