Sri Lanka's "Mossad Style" 9-11: Suspicious Videotaping, Twin Towers, Truck Bombs, and All That Jazz

Eerie coincidence:   The twin towers of Colombo, Sri Lanka's World Trade Center (bottom right) loom just a few blocks from Colombo's Central Bank Building.  The bank was the site of the January 31st, 1996 bomb blast, which killed at least 100 and wounded over 1400.  There were local news reports that "two white men" were seen videotaping the bank building early in the a.m. and again later, after the explosion.   

On a round the world trip I took in 1995-96, I spent close to two months in India.  India was a mixed bag.  Overall, India did not suit me - I did not fall head over heels in love with the place.  I longed for tropical beaches and fresh air, at least air that wouldn't turn my skin gun-metal gray as the polluted air in India had.  So I bought a ticket to Sri Lanka.

My flight was scheduled to land a couple of days into February.  In Delhi, I passed a newspaper stand on the way to the travel agent.  I caught sight of a headline about an "Oklahoma City" sized bomb going off in Colombo, with hundreds feared dead.  No matter.  I was that weary of India.  I didn't change my plans.   The travel agent mentioned it to me.  I said, yes, I'd heard.  

When I arrived at Colombo International, I noticed busloads of European tourists leaving the airport for the local resorts.  The bomb hadn't scared them off their plans either.  Most of them were traveling to beachfront and posh hotels well removed from Colombo.  I didn't have a guidebook, so I headed, partly out of curiosity, to "ground zero".  Full Story