A lorry containing about 440 pounds of high explosives crashed through the main gate of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, a seaside high-rise which managed most of the financial business of the country.

As gunmen traded fire with security guards, a suicide bomber in the lorry detonated the massive bomb, which tore through the bank and damaged eight other buildings nearby.

The suicide bombers were: Immediately after the bombing, several tourists and local and foreign travel agencies received calls from Ellalan Force, a front organisation of LTTE, to boycott Sri Lanka.

[6][9] Eleven LTTE members were charged with the bombing of the Central Bank, ten of them were indicted on a total of 712 counts, including intention to cause death and committing murder, destruction of state property by attacking the central bank, and provoking violence.

[10] In 2002, Judge Sarath Ambepitiya issued an open warrant to arrest LTTE's exclusive leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran in connection with the 1996 Central Bank Bombing.