SL bloggers report LTTE air raid on 29th April

Sanjiva Weerawarana's Blog

We had more excitement during the match .. our LTTE brethren decided not to take my advice and leave the match nite alone! At about 1am I heard some sounds like fire crackers (which are legal in Sri Lanka and are used heavily when something interesting happens) and looked outside and saw what appeared to be sky rockets going up from the Ratmalana Airport side (I live about one mile straight line distance from there). But it was too consistent .. and it turned out to be tracer bullets being fired into the sky from the Air Force base at the airport.

As everyone knows now LTTE attacked a gas storage facility in Colombo that night. They did only minor damage but the PR and psychological impact was real: the LTTE can and did fly into and out of Colombo. The economic impact has already started.

The Sri Lanka Air Force will obviously deal with this new threat but most probably these guys will be back soon while they have the early advantage.

Damn, they're not even cricket fans!

Nazly

I was almost in deep sleep when I heard this sudden noise that woke me up. I felt like it was thundering so I kinda got up and sat half asleep and thats when I heard the sound of a plane. It clicked to me immediately that what I heard was not a thunder but an explosion so I rushed towards the front door. When I opened the door I saw fire been hit towards the sky. The electricity was cut off as well. It was pitch black and I heard people were shouting all around. It was not revealed as of what could have happened and rumors were spreading across. It was total chaos at that time but in about 10-15 mins the firing towards the sky stopped. It was one hell of an experience in that time of the night.

Memory Bank

It was around 1.45 AM - I heard a series of explosions. First I thought they might be lightning in the sky. Anyway the TV signals were not disturbed - so I went out to see the sky and witnessed no signs of lightning. SLAF confirmed that they have activated their air defence system - Colombo.

Lakshan

Update on the current situation in Colombo (exactly here in Wattala). Still nothing is yet to confirm and moments passed by were filled with fear and uncertainity. We got electricity back in few minutes ago (around 3.50 am) and now the whole city seems calm and quiet. Still there is no any official update on what [...]

n#

Electricity was off for a few hours, starting some time after 1AM. I also heard two strange sounding explosions that did not seem to be fireworks (What I heard sounded like 2 very low frequency ‘blasts’ followed by deep vibrations/hums.)

A ride down my life

It was the 28th of April and we had to go to Hilton for one of my dad’s award ceremonies. (We in the sense, me and my family) so all of us were excited. After the award ceremony we got to stay the night stay at the Hilton with complementary breakfast at ‘spices’. AND, it was the world cup final that that and everybody was more excited about that. I wouldn’t talk about that coz it’s too heart wrecking.

Anyways, it was around 2.30 am when we started hearing gun shots from outside and opposite the room I was staying was the army headquarters. O me god… when I opened my eyes it was not a pretty sight. The Colombo skyline was roaring with machine gun fire and everything else was pitch dark. There were gunshots going on from all the angles and it was scaring me to death. It must have been around 30mins until the shooting were stopped but still it was freaking out all the guests. The management of the hotel were putting announcement for guests to come downstairs to the lobby to which my freaking brother wouldn’t give a damn. He’s too big in his head and wanted to see what was going on outside.

After sometime the shooting started again and this time they were aiming at two air crafts. We could see the planes and the shots going so close but missing them. It was worse than Sangakkara missing Gilchrist’s catch! Damn.
Anyway, we were at the hotel lobby for about 45mins and somehow the firing ceased. Everything was settled around 4.30 in the morning but I’m not sure of the time.