The Bandaranaike Airport attack was an assault by the

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

(LTTE) on

Bandaranaike International Airport Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) ( si, බණ්ඩාරනායක ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ, translit=Bandāranāyaka Jātyantara Guvantoṭupaḷa; ta, பண்டாரநாயக்க � ...

, on July 24, 2001. The attack was one of the boldest the LTTE mounted during its

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

with the

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

n government, and had a profound impact on the country's

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

, and airline industry.

Assault

Around 3:30 am on July 24, 14 members of the LTTE Black Tiger suicide squad infiltrated

Katunayake Katunayake ( si, කටුනායක, ta, கட்டுநாயகம்), is a suburb of Negombo city in Western Province, Sri Lanka. It is the site of Bandaranaike International Airport or Colombo Airport, the primary international air g ...

air base, located about 35 km (22 mi) north of

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

. After destroying electricity transformers to plunge the base into darkness, they cut through the barbed wire surrounding the base to begin their assault. Using

rocket-propelled grenade A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads a ...

anti-tank weapon Anti-tank warfare originated from the need to develop technology and Military tactics, tactics to destroy tanks during World War I. Since the Triple Entente deployed the first tanks in 1916, the German Empire developed the first anti-tank weapon ...

s, and assault rifles, the militants attacked air force planes. They were not able to attack the aircraft parked in

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

s but did destroy eight military aircraft on the tarmac: three

K-8 Karakorum The Hongdu JL-8 (Nanchang JL-8), also known as the Karakorum-8 or K-8 for short, is a two-seat intermediate jet trainer and a light attack aircraft designed in the People's Republic of China by China Nanchang Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation ...

trainer aircraft, one

Mil Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russian service. ...

helicopter, one

Mil Mi-24 The Mil Mi-24 (russian: Миль Ми-24; NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity troop transport with room for eight passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and has been ...

helicopter, two

IAI Kfir , abbreviated , is a Japanese martial art that emphasizes being aware and capable of quickly drawing the sword and responding to sudden attacks.Christensen, Karen and Allen Guttmann et.al (2001) ''International Encyclopedia of Women and Sport ...

fighter jets, and a

MiG-27 The Mikoyan MiG-27 (russian: Микоян МиГ-27; NATO reporting name: Flogger-D/J) is a variable-sweep ground-attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union and later licence-produced in India ...

. Five K-8s and one MiG-27 were also damaged. A total of 26 aircraft were either damaged or destroyed in the attack. Some of the LTTE members climbed to the top of the air base's

control tower Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

, which they used as a vantage point. Eight Tigers and three air force officers died in the battle at the air base. The six remaining LTTE members then crossed the runway to the adjacent Bandaranaike Airport. Using their weapons, they began blowing up civilian aircraft, which were all empty. One

Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...

was destroyed by an explosive charge, another A330 by the explosion of an oil tank; an

A340 The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage d ...

was destroyed by a rocket fired from the terminal building. In addition, an A320-200 and an A340-300 were damaged in the assault. The attack was over by 8:30 am. All 14 guerrillas were killed, along with six Sri Lankan air force personnel and one soldier killed by friendly fire. Twelve soldiers were injured, along with three Sri Lankan civilians and a Russian engineer. No tourists were harmed during the attack. The three Airbuses destroyed constituted three of

SriLankan Airlines SriLankan Airlines (formerly known as Air Lanka) is the flag carrier of Sri Lanka and a member airline of the Oneworld airline alliance. It is currently the largest airline in Sri Lanka by number of aircraft and destinations and was launched ...

' 12 aircraft. The two other damaged aircraft meant that nearly half of the airline's fleet was out of commission.

Effects

Bandaranaike Airport was closed for 14 hours during and after the attack. Flights were diverted to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

during the assault due to the threat of attack. The total estimated cost of the destroyed aircraft is about $450 million, of which the Airbuses alone cost over $300 million. But there were other, bigger costs. The cost of replacing the civilian aircraft was estimated at US$350 million. The attack caused a slowdown in the economy of Sri Lanka, to about -1.4%.

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

also plummeted, dropping 15.5% at the end of the year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandaranaike Airport Attack Attacks on military installations in the 2000s July 2001 events in Asia Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacks in Eelam War III Mass murder in 2001 Terrorist attacks on airports Terrorist incidents in Sri Lanka in 2001

Assault

Effects

See also

References