Assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa

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Assassination of Ranasinghe Premadasa
Location	Colombo, Sri Lanka
Date	1 May 1993 12:45 PM (SLST)
Target	Ranasinghe Premadasa
Attack type	Suicide bombing
Weapon	0.91 kg (2 lb) of plastic explosives strapped to perpetrator's body[1]
Deaths	23 including Premadasa[2]
Injured	38-60[3]
Victims	Ranasinghe Premadasa E. E. P. Mohideen[a] SSP Ronnie Gunasinghe Most of President's personal staff
Perpetrator	Kulaveerasingam 'Babu' Veerakumar under orders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Ranasinghe Premadasa, the 3rd President of Sri Lanka, was assassinated on 1 May 1993. Premadasa, along with 23 others, were killed in an explosion set off by an LTTE suicide bomber during a May Day rally held in the country's capital of Colombo. The rally was organised by Premadasa's ruling political party, the United National Party.

The explosion took place at around 12:45 PM 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.^[4] Veerakumar was working under direction from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil militant organization based in northeastern Sri Lanka which fought for an independent Tamil ethnostate known as Tamil Eelam. In addition to the 17 casualties, an estimated 60 more were injured in the explosion.^[3] 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.^[5]

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 7 May 1993. The government did not announce the death of President Premadasa until 6 PM 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 9 May 1993 at Independence Square in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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