A suicide attack by LTTE on Colombo’s international airport, results in several deaths of armed personnel and destroyed or damaged 26 commercial and military aircraft. The attack marked the eighteenth anniversary of ‘Black July’.
Sources
Key Sri Lankan air base attacked, BBC, 24 July 2001; Rebel Attack on Airport Shocks Leaders of Sri Lanka, NY Times, 25 July 2001; Intelligence failures exposed by Tamil Tiger airport attack, analysis by Rohan Gunaratna, Jane’s Information Group, 3 September 2001.
Extract from ‘Intelligence failures exposed by Tamil Tiger airport attack’
“A suicide squad of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) staged an audacious attack on Sri Lanka’s Bandaranaike international airport and the adjoining air force base at Katunayake on 24 July 2001. In three waves, a highly trained and heavily armed 14-man squad penetrated the 800-acre high security complex and destroyed or damaged 26 commercial and military aircraft. The attack is the biggest terrorist operation so far launched by the LTTE and the most destructive terrorist attack in the history of aviation. The suicide dimension – 14 members targeting 26 aircraft – made the operation cost effective. …
“The LTTE attack exposed the shaky foundations on which the country’s national security structure was founded. It questioned the government’s capacity to develop intelligence, forecast threats, protect its critical infrastructure and prepare appropriate force structures to disrupt LTTE operations in the government-held south. It also symbolised the sharp decline in the capability of the Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DII), responsible for anti-terrorist (protective) intelligence as well as counterterrorist (offensive) intelligence.” Source: Intelligence failures exposed by Tamil Tiger airport attack, analysis by Rohan Gunaratna, Jane’s Information Group, 3 September 2001.
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