Officials stated that a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber caused an entire blast in the main building of the opposition party in Sri Lanka on Monday. The explosion killed nearly 27 people, among which there was a retired senior general. The attack occurred in the town of Anuradhapura and it seems that it represented an act of revenge against the Sri Lanka military offensive of trying to capture the Tigers’ headquarters.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara stated that "the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) set off a suicide explosion. There are a large number of casualties. At least 27 are dead and 80 injured." The explosion caused the death of the provincial chief of the United National Party, Janaka Perera.
Apparently, the retired army general was going to speak at a ceremony of opening the offices when the blast occurred.

One of the people present at the ceremony said that the attack might have been done specifically against the former army general and added that "Buddhist monks had just conducted prayers when Perera got up to address the gathering, and then the blast took place." The man also stated that "there was chaos and the smell of blood in the air, with bodies thrown everywhere and people crying."

Janaka Perera’s wife was also killed. He was a war veteran, honored with many victories against the Tigers. Among the battles he participated to and won is the one from 1996 when nearly 200 rebels were killed.