President opens 3rd November Memorial

President Dr. Mohammed Waheed Hassan Manik opened last night the newly built 3rd November Memorial in Malé.

3rd November 1988 memorial was built by the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) to commemorate the memories of those who were martyred in the unsuccessful attack on the Maldives by a foreign terrorist organization with the participation of a few Maldivians.

In this attack, a group of about 90 terrorist fighters landed on Malé and tried to subdue the Maldivian defence forces, killing 19 Maldivians including 11 civilians.

An MNDF Officer told Sun Online today that the Memorial was designed to show the hole blasted by the terrorist assailants at the south-western corner of the walls surrounding the headquarters of the MNDF. The hole was blasted during the attack with rocket fire, and the terrorists planned to enter the MNDF headquarters through the hole. However, the attempts failed due to resistance of the Maldivian soldiers inside the headquarters.

“The shield visible through the hole symbolizes the great jihaad of the Maldivian soldiers in defence of the nation’s sovereignty and independence. It also symbolizes the fact that our determination would not be dampened and destroyed by a hole on our walls”, said the Officer.

All the work involved in building the Memorial, including designing and construction, were done by the members of the MNDF.