Credit: Masako Kawasaki at English WikipediaCC BY-SA 3.0SourceSOLVEDListenTintagel, Rosmead Place, Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) · 1959
S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon, was shot at his private residence Tintagel in Colombo on September 25, 1959, by Buddhist priest Talduwe Somarama Thero and died the next day; a wider conspiracy trial led to convictions and one execution.
Credit: CIAPublic domainSourceUNSOLVEDListenWeliweriya, Sri Lanka · 2008
On 6 April 2008, an alleged suicide bomber killed 15 people, including a government minister and a national athletics coach, at the start of a marathon race during New Year celebrations in Weliweriya, Sri Lanka.
SOLVEDListenGaladari Hotel / Colombo World Trade Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka · 1997
On 15 October 1997, LTTE Black Tigers detonated a truck bomb at the Galadari Hotel car park in Colombo, adjacent to the newly opened World Trade Centre, killing 15 people and wounding 105, followed by a hostage siege at the Lake House building that ended when Sri Lankan Army commandos killed the remaining attackers.
SOLVEDListenTown Hall, Colombo, Sri Lanka · 1999
On December 18, 1999, a suicide bomber attacked Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga as she left her final election rally in Colombo, killing 34 people and wounding more than 105. Kumaratunga survived but lost vision in her right eye; she won the election days later.
UNSOLVEDListenOff Bolgoda Lake, Piliyandala, Sri Lanka · 1986
Daya Pathirana, leader of the Independent Students Union at the University of Colombo, was abducted and killed near Bolgoda Lake, Piliyandala, on 15 December 1986, in an attack attributed to pro-Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna activists; the killing is regarded as a watershed event preceding the 1987–1989 JVP insurrection.
The files run from 1959 to 2019. The 1990s hold the most, with 4 files. The oldest is Assassination of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, from 1959.
By type, the largest groups are murder and homicide cases (2), kidnapping and abduction cases (2) and arson cases (1).
None of these files has creator coverage attached yet; each one can still be heard as a narrated case file.
Every file is written from cited sources and pinned where it happened, and every person named carries the legal status the record gives them. If you hold information about an unsolved case, contact the investigating agency named in its file rather than posting it publicly. Families and anyone involved can request a correction from any file.
This page updates from the published files, so counts and statuses change the day a record does. Open any file for its timeline, its sources and the coverage worth your time, or play it as a narrated case file.
Statue of Risen Jesus, Sri Lanka — Credit: Meera2k19CC BY-SA 4.0Source
Stone carvings at Temple of the Tooth, Sri Lanka — Credit: AstronomyinertiaCC BY-SA 3.0Source
On Sunday 23 July, members of the Tamil diaspora community gathered opposite 10 Downing Street to commemorate the beginning of the anti-Tamil pogroms in Sri Lanka forty years ago in 1983 — Credit: Alisdare HicksonCC BY-SA 4.0Source
Tissa with Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike in Russia with Alexei Kosygin Premier of the Soviet Union fro — Credit: Masako Kawasaki at English WikipediaCC BY-SA 3.0Source
Sri Lanka-CIA WFB Map — Credit: CIAPublic domainSource
10. By status: 4 unsolved, 1 ongoing and 5 solved. The count covers published files only and changes as new files clear review.
Assassination of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, from 1959. Open the file
It rebuilds hourly from the published files; the newest file change here is dated Jul 7, 2026. A status changes only when the record behind it does.
