Assassination of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike

Assassination of S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
Official portrait of S.W.R.D. Bandaranayaka
Location	Tintagel, Rosmead Place, Colombo, Ceylon
Date	September 25, 1959; 58 years ago (1959-09-25) 9:45 a.m.
Target	S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike
Attack type	Lone gunman
Weapons	.45 Webley Mark VI revolver
Deaths	1 (S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike)
Non-fatal injuries	1
Perpetrator	Talduwe Somarama Thero

S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the forth Prime Minister of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), was assassinated by the Buddhist priest Talduwe Somarama Thero on September 25, 1959, while meeting the public at his private residence, Tintagel at Rosmead Place in Colombo. Shot in the chest, abdomen and hand, Bandaranaike died the following day at Merchant's Ward of the Colombo General Hospital. He was the first Sri Lankan national leader to be assassinated, which led to his widow Sirima Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike becoming the world's first female Prime Minister.

Bandaranaike became prime minister after winning the 1956 elections in a landslide, at the head of a four-party coalition with a no-contest pact with the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka known as the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) (the Peoples' United Front) which gains two-third majority in parliament on a wave of strong nationalist sentiment.

After becoming prime minister, Bandaranaike was officially moved to the Prime minister’s official residence Temple Trees, however he also divided his time between his country seat at Horagolla and his town house, Tintagel at Rosmead Place in Colombo. On the morning of September 25, 1959 he was at Tintagel and receiving the public to hear their requests and complaints. The Prime Minister had been assigned a Police Sub Inspector (SI) for his personal protection. However Bandaranaike had sent him back on the grounds he should attend to more important duties and requested the Inspector General of Police to assign a few police constables instead. On the morning of September 25 only one armed police constable was on duty at the gates of Tintagel, while the sergeant in charge was not on duty.