At least two persons were killed and 18 injured when a bomb exploded at the fag end of a concert in Colombo by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. The actor and his troupe were unharmed.
The deceased were the actor’s Sri Lankan fans – a 30-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man. A number of children were among those injured.
Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Javed Khan and Celina Jaitley were among those who were part of the three-hour show, which started almost an hour late because of tight security. As Khan’s troupe staged the show, police kept a vigil in the neighbourhood.
The bomb ripped through the 10,000-rupee stands just as the superstar ended his three-hour concert in the Sri Lankan capital, police said.
“There were a lot of fireworks and everyone thought the blast was part of the show,” a doctor at the hospital quoted one of the injured as saying. “Then we realised that we were bleeding.”
The concert was billed as Sri Lanka’s biggest musical event of the year.
Bollywood idol Sharuk Khan offers apology to Maha Sangha
Sunday, December 12, 2004, 13:17 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Dec 12, Colombo: Bollywood idol Sharuk Khan, who arrived in Sri Lanka amidst controversy and protests, extended an apology to the Maha Sangha at a press conference at the Taj Samudra Hotel prior to the Temptation 2004 concert yesterday.
He said they regretted their inability to postpone the concert, for which agreements were signed six months ago. The timing of the concert, billed as the country’s biggest musical event of the year, coincided with the first death anniversary of the late Ven. Gangodawila Soma Thera.