Kochchikade van bomb arranged to explode between 9 - 10 in morning misfired ... because fault in washing-machine timer

Kochchikade van bomb arranged to explode between 9 - 10 in morning misfired ... because fault in washing-machine timer

News has been announced that the bomb which was blast at 4 in the evening on 22nd Monday after the attack on St. Anthony's Church, Kochchikade on Easter Sunday had been affixed in the van the day before to explode between 9 - 10 after the initial blast with a washing-machine timer being installed. Information has been received that arrangements were made for the second blast to take place with the said timer functioning parallel to the church bomb. If in case it did happen that way ... it is understood that other crowds running hither and thither because of the initial blast would have
been trapped at that moment. When considering these factors, the attackers had arranged to carry out two explosions each assuming that the attackers had considered the Shangri-La attack and Kochchikade attack as major explosions -- however, the second attack related to the church has misfired. 

In this connection, assistant superintendent of police, Mr. Dimuthu Samaranayaka and a team from the bomb disposal unit have launched this operation sacrificing their lives. The attacker who came for this attack has parked the van hundred metres closeby in the vicinity and has set the timer of the bomb and left the scene and has set off the bomb which he was carrying in his bag. Thus, what the extremists had planned was to let the bomb explode within an hour from there onwards so that a large number of security forces, people of repute and civil-folk would die at one and the same time instantly.

"It was when trying to deactivate this that we realised that the timer has functioned for one hour and had come down to zero. A washing-machine timer had been used for it. Though the timer recorded zero, the bomb has not gone off because of a mishap in electricity in the country ... fortunately for people in the country. As there was no electricity in the detonator, this did not explode. The bomb was set up in the middle of 12.5 gas tanks. Those were new gas tanks. The motive may have been to create destruction with a massive flare resulting with the explosion. Terrorists go away without locking up doors of the van so that it would explode when trying to make an inspection of it. Bombs were set up apart from the timer so that it would explode when those addicted to drugs in the area would try to open the van to pick up two thousand rupee notes left on the seat. 

The  timer has gone to zero because of a bomb that has partially gone off. This then is the most dangerous part of the bomb. The accepted global view is that when attending to a bomb disposal act, to explode without paying attention to property, paying attention only to life. In this instance what complicated thoughts of officers who approached the bomb was how to dismantle it. At that point, ASP Samaranayaka in spite of risk to his life, removed the timer. Then an attempt was made to remove the second trapping. As the risk of the bomb going off was high, a hook was used and the battery of the bomb was pulled out; after which it was exploded. 

- Tissa Ravindra Perera -