Incident Summary:
05/10/2008: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) bombed and sank a 65 meter long Sri Lankan Navy cargo ship named MV 'Invisible', at the harbor in the eastern port town of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka. The explosion, which occurred at about 2:15 a.m, and merely hours before polls were slated to open for an important provincial election, is believed to have been carried out by a diving suicide bomber, as remains of only the lower body were found. Navy divers believe the perpetrator used a suicide jacket for the incident. Diving equipment was also recovered from the water. The ship was damaged, but there were no other casualties in the incident, as no one was aboard the vessel. The attack was claimed by the LTTE; they stated that it was carried out by their "Kangkai Amaran unit."
Overview
GTD ID:
200805110024
When:
2008-05-10
Country:
Sri Lanka
Region:
South Asia
Province/administrative
region/u.s. state:
Eastern
City:
Trincomalee
Location Details:
at the Ashraff jetty in the harbor in the eastern port town of Trincomalee
What
Attack Information
Type of Attack () |
Bombing/Explosion |
Successful Attack? () |
Yes |
Target Information ()
Target Type: Military |
Name of Entity |
Sri Lankan Navy |
Specific Description |
Sri Lankan navy cargo ship named MV 'Invisible' |
Nationality of Target |
Sri Lanka |
Additional Information
Hostages |
No |
Ransom |
No |
Property Damage |
Yes |
Extent of Property Damage |
Unknown |
Value of Property Damage |
Unknown |
How
Weapon Information
Type |
Sub-type |
Explosives |
Suicide (carried bodily by human being) |
Weapon Details |
suicide jacket |
Additional Information
Suicide Attack? | Yes |
Part of Multiple Incident? | No |
Criterion 1 () |
Yes |
Criterion 2 () |
Yes |
Criterion 3 () |
No |
Doubt Terrorism Proper () |
Yes |
Alternate Designation () |
Insurgency/Guerilla Action |
Additional Information |
The Tamil Tigers have carried out attacks similar to this one in the past. LTTE claimed "the underwater attack came when the supply vessel was being loaded with explosives to be transported to the Kankesanthurai Harbour in Jaffna," though officials denied the validity of this statement, and claimed that the ship was not being loaded with explosives. |
Who
Perpetrator Statistics
Number of Perpetrators |
1 |
Number of Captured Perpetrators |
0 |
Casualty Information
Total Number of Casualties |
1 Fatalities / 0 Injured |
Total Number of Fatalities |
1 |
Number of U.S. Fatalities |
0 |
Number of Perpetrator Fatalities |
1 |
Total Number of Injured |
0 |
Number of U.S. Injured |
0 |
Number of Perpetrators Injured |
0 |
Sources
Sources
"Sri Lanka military says rebels sink navy ship in attack in east," Associated Press (Worldstream), May 10, 2008. |
"Sinking of Navy ship: Evidence of suicide bomber," Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka), May 12, 2008. |
"Suicide bomber sunk Navy ship, says Lankan official," The Press Trust of India, May 12, 2008. |
Criteria
Criteria 1
The act must be aimed at attaining a political, economic, religious, or social goal. In terms of economic goals, the exclusive pursuit of profit does not satisfy this criterion. It must involve the pursuit of more profound, systemic economic change.
Criterion 2
There must be evidence of an intention to coerce, intimidate, or convey some other message to a larger audience (or audiences) than the immediate victims. It is the act taken as a totality that is considered, irrespective if every individual involved in carrying out the act was aware of this intention. As long as any of the planners or decision-makers behind the attack intended to coerce, intimidate or publicize, the intentionality criterion is met.
Criterion 3
The action must be outside the context of legitimate warfare activities. That is, the act must be outside the parameters permitted by international humanitarian law (particularly the prohibition against deliberately targeting civilians or non-combatants.
Doubt Terrorism Proper
The existence of a "Yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper?" records reservation, in the eyes of GTD analysts, that the incident in question is truly terrorism. Such uncertainty, however, was not deemed to be sufficient to disqualify the incident from inclusion into the GTD. Furthermore, such a determination of doubt is subsequently coded by GTD analysts as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Alternate Designation
The determination of "yes" for "Doubt Terrorism Proper" by GTD analysts is coded as conforming to one of four possible alternative designations: 1) Insurgency/Guerilla Action; 2) Internecine Conflict Action; 3) Mass Murder; or 4) Purely Criminal Act.
Successful Attack
Success of a terrorist strike is defined according to the tangible effects of the attack. For example, in a typical successful bombing, the bomb detonates and destroys property and/or kills individuals, whereas an unsuccessful bombing is one in which the bomb is discovered and defused or detonates early and kills the perpetrators. Success is not judged in terms of the larger goals of the perpetrators. For example, a bomb that exploded in a building would be counted as a success even if it did not, for example, succeed in bringing the building down or inducing government repression.
Type of Attack
This field captures the general method of attack and often reflects the broad class of tactics used. It consists of the following nine categories:
- Assassination
- Armed Assault
- Unarmed Assault
- Bombing/Explosion
- Hijacking
- Hostage taking (Barricade Incident)
- Hostage taking (Kidnapping)
- Facility / Infrastructure Attack
- Unknown
Target Information
This field captures the general type of target. It consists of the following 22 categories:
- Abortion Related
- Airports & Airlines
- Business
- Government (General)
- Government (Diplomatic)
- Educational Institution
- Food or Water Supply
- Journalists & Media
- Maritime (includes Ports and Maritime facilities)
- Military
- NGO
- Other
- Police
- Private Citizens & Property
- Religious Figures/Institutions
- Telecommunication
- Terrorists
- Tourists
- Transportation (other than aviation)
- Unknown
- Utilities
- Violent Political Parties