May 1 in History
1993 – Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa is assassinated in Colombo in a suicide bombing carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Ranasinghe Premadasa, the 3rd President of Sri Lanka, who also served as the country’s 8th Prime Minister, and an MP from Colombo Central district, was assassinated on this day in 1993 in an explosion set off by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during a May Day rally held in the country’s capital of Colombo. Twenty-three others were also killed in the explosion. The rally was organized by Premadasa’s ruling political party, the United National Party.
The explosion took place at around 12:45 p.m. at the junction of Armour Street and Grandpass Road in Hulftsdorp, Colombo. President Premadasa was unofficially supervising the procession as it was heading from Sugathadasa Stadium to its end destination of Galle Face Green. The suicide bomber was later identified as Kulaveerasingam Veerakumar (alias ‘Babu’), a close friend of the President’s valet, E. M. P. Mohideen. Veerakumar was working under the direction of the LTTE, a Tamil militant organization based in northern Sri Lanka that was fighting for an independent ethno-state known as Eelam. In addition to the 17 casualties, an estimated 60 more were injured in the explosion.
Confusion prevailed as it was unclear what had happened, with Premadasa and his security detail missing. His death was only confirmed several hours later by his personal physician when his ring and watch were identified on body parts found in the morgue.]
The site of the explosion was cleaned within hours before a proper investigation was conducted. An island-wide curfew was imposed hours after the assassination. Prime Minister D.B. Wijetunga became acting president and was officially sworn in on May 7, 1993.
The government did not announce the death of President Premadasa until 6 p.m. local time when state-owned television network Rupavahini broadcast a tape of the BBC‘s report of the incident. A period of national mourning was announced until the funeral, which took place on May 9, 1993, at Independence Square in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
-Wikipedia
Photo Caption – President of Sri Lanka Ranasinghe Premadasa at Bangabhaban in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1992 –Wikipedia
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