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Explosions
have hit
three
churches
and four
hotels
in and
around
the Sri
Lankan
capital
of
Colombo
killing
at least
290
people.
(Pictured)
Officials
inspect
the
damaged
St.
Sebastian's
Church
after
multiple
explosions
targeting
churches
and
hotels
across
Sri
Lanka on
April
21, in
Negombo,
north of
Colombo,
Sri
Lanka.
(By
Chamila
Karunarathne/Anadolu
Agency/Getty
Images) |
|
Death
toll in
the Sri
Lanka
bombings
jumps to
290
By
Joanna
Slater,
Amantha
Perera,
Shibani
Mahtani
The
Washington
Post
The
Department
of
Communications
shares
the
following
statement
from
Archbishop
Allen H.
Vigneron,
in
response
to the
April 21
bombings
of
churches
and
hotels
in Sri
Lanka
that
left
hundreds
killed
or
injured:
“My
prayers
go out
to all
those
impacted
by these
despicable
acts of
violence.
There is
a
universal
bond
between
us here
in the
Detroit
archdiocese
and
those
Sri
Lankan
Catholics
who were
in
church
celebrating
the
holiest,
most
significant
date on
the
Christian
calendar
–
Easter.
May the
Risen
Christ
embrace
those
killed,
heal
their
families
and the
survivors,
and help
make the
world
one of
tolerance
and
acceptance.”
COLOMBO,
Sri
Lanka -
From the
altar of
St.
Anthony’s
church
in
Colombo,
Father
Joy
Mariyaratnam
looked
out at
worshipers
packed
into
pews and
standing
along
walls
for
Easter
Sunday.
Nearly
halfway
through
the
mass, as
the
congregation
stood to
recite
prayers,
he heard
an
enormous
blast
and saw
what he
described
as a
fireball.
The
explosion
was so
powerful
that it
blew off
much of
church’s
roof,
sending
debris
raining
down on
the
people
below.
As the
smoke
cleared,
he saw a
terrifying
scene:
scores
of
wounded
and
dead,
crying
out in
pain and
fear. At
first,
Mariyaratnam
was
motionless
with
panic.
“I was
thinking,
‘how
could
such a
thing
happen
in a
place of
worship?’”
he said.
“We are
still in
shock.”
On
Monday,
officials
raised
the
death
toll in
the
Easter
Sunday
attacks
on
churches
and
high-end
hotels
to 290
from
207,
underscoring
the
massive
scale of
the
bloodshed.
More
than 500
people
have
been
injured.
A Sri
Lankan
girl
waits
outside
a
mortuary
to
identify
her
family
member
killed
in
yesterday
church
blasts,
in
Colombo,
Sri
Lanka,
Monday,
April
22,
2019.
Easter
Sunday
bombings
of
churches,
luxury
hotels
and
other
sites
that
killed
hundreds
of
people
was Sri
Lanka's
deadliest
violence
since a
devastating
civil
war in
the
South
Asian
island
nation
ended a
decade
ago. (AP
Photo/Eranga
Jayawardena)
No
group
claimed
responsibility
for the
attacks.
Attention
is now
focusing
on why
and how
the
government
and
security
forces
were
unable
to foil
the
coordinated
bombings.
Two
officials
provided
the Post
with a
three-page
intelligence
report
issued
on April
11, in
which a
senior
police
official
warned
of
potential
suicide
attacks
by an
Islamic
extremist
group
targeting
Catholic
churches.
The
report
names
the
group as
the
National
Thowheeth
Jama’ath
(National
Organization
of
Monotheism)
or NTJ
and
identifies
several
members
by name,
including
its
alleged
leader,
Mohamed
Zaharan.
The
attackers
belonged
to a
“local
network,”
said
Mujibur
Rahman,
a member
of Sri
Lanka’s
parliament
who was
briefed
on the
report,
which he
said was
based on
inputs
provided
by
Indian
intelligence
agencies.
A
huge
number
of the
dead
were
worshipers
at St.
Sebastian’s
Church
in
Negombo,
north of
Colombo;
officials
reported
at least
104 dead
there.
The
highly
coordinated
attacks
left the
island
nation
reeling,
a
crushing
blow
after
almost a
decade
of peace
since
the end
of the
civil
war.
A Sri
Lankan
man
cries
while
looking
for the
bodies
of his
family
members
killed
in
yesterday
church
blasts
in a
mortuary
in
Colombo,
Sri
Lanka,
Monday,
April
22,
2019.
Easter
Sunday
bombings
of
churches,
luxury
hotels
and
other
sites
that
killed
hundreds
of
people
was Sri
Lanka's
deadliest
violence
since a
devastating
civil
war in
the
South
Asian
island
nation
ended a
decade
ago. (AP
Photo/Eranga
Jayawardena)
In
that
time,
tourism
in Sri
Lanka
had been
steadily
growing,
the
country
transformed
by the
apparent
end of
instability,
bloodshed
and
frequent
suicide
bombings
over the
26-year
war.
Police
say that
Sunday’s
attacks
were
caused
by
suicide
bombers
who
detonated
explosives
in
several
locations
across
the
country,
including
St.
Sebastian’s
Church,
six
locations
in
Colombo
and a
church
in
Batticaloa
on the
island’s
eastern
shore.
In
Colombo,
the
three
high-end
hotels
attacked
included
the
Shangri-La
and the
Cinnamon
Grand
hotel.
An
official
at the
Sri
Lankan
air
force
said an
explosive
was
defused
close to
the
city’s
main
airport,
the
Bandaranaike
International
Airport,
on
Sunday
night,
probably
an
additional
target.
At
the
Shangri-La
Hotel,
the
blast
occurred
in a
restaurant
as
guests
were
having
breakfast.
Investigators
who
spoke on
condition
of
anonymity
because
they
were not
authorized
to speak
to the
press
said
that two
suspects
had
checked
into a
room at
the
hotel
earlier
in the
morning
and gave
local
addresses
to hotel
staff.
A
curfew
has been
imposed
from 8
p.m.
Monday
night
until 4
a.m. the
next
morning.
Prime
Minister
Ranil
Wickremesinghe
told
reporters
Sunday
that
some
government
officials
had
prior
intelligence
about
the
attacks
but
didn’t
act on
it.
“Information
was
there,”
he said
at a
news
conference.
“This is
a matter
we need
to look
into.”
The
security
apparatus
in Sri
Lanka is
controlled
by the
president,
Maithripala
Sirisena.
Relations
between
him and
the
prime
minister
have
been at
a low
point
since he
tried to
oust him
from
office
late
last
year ,
launching
a
political
crisis.
Rahman,
the
member
of
parliament
briefed
on the
report,
is
affiliated
with the
prime
minister,
and said
Wickremesinghe
“had the
letter
in his
hand”
when he
met with
lawmakers
Sunday,
referring
to the
notice.
“He
told us
that the
Indian
intelligence
had
conveyed
threats
of
possible
attacks,
two
possible
dates
were
mentioned
April 4
and 11,”
Rahman
said.
“Part of
the
problem
is since
the Oct.
26 coup,
the
prime
minister
has not
been
invited
to the
security
council
meetings,
so we
don’t
know
what is
being
discussed,”
he
added.
Police
arrested
13
people
in
connection
with the
bombings,
and
three
police
officers
were
killed
during a
raid at
a
suspect’s
house.
Rahman
added
that the
suspects
are “all
locals”
belonging
to a
“local
network.”
“We
still
don’t
have
information
on a
foreign
link,”
he said.
Images
of
splintered
pews and
bloodstained
floors
played
across
local
television
screens
Sunday
as the
enormity
of the
attacks,
launched
on the
holiest
day of
the
Christian
calendar,
became
clear.
Delicia
Fernando,
52, was
sitting
toward
the
front of
St.
Anthony’s
church
in
Colombo
with her
son and
two
daughters.
Her
husband
Ravi
preferred
to stand
at the
back of
the
church.
Her
first
impulse
after
the
explosion
was to
run, but
then she
and her
children
turned
back to
look for
Ravi.
They
found
him
crushed
under
debris
from the
roof,
his body
pierced
with
shrapnel.
Sitting
in the
living
room of
her
parents’
home
near the
church,
she said
she had
never
experienced
anything
like
this
violence,
not even
at the
height
of the
country’s
civil
war.
Though a
majority
of the
dead
were Sri
Lankan,
at least
a dozen
were
foreigners
including
from
India,
Japan,
Britain,
the
United
States
and
Turkey.
The
unidentified
bodies
of 25
people
believed
to be
foreigners
were at
a
government
mortuary
in
Colombo.
The
dead
included
“several”
Americans,
Secretary
of State
Mike
Pompeo
said. He
blamed
“radical
terrorists”
for the
attacks.
Sri
Lanka is
a
predominantly
Buddhist
nation,
but it’s
also
home to
significant
Hindu,
Muslim
and
Christian
communities.
While
there
has been
intermittent
conflict
between
religious
groups —
including
threats
to
Christians
—
nothing
remotely
like
Sunday’s
attacks
had
occurred.
Blasts
ripped
through
three
churches
in
Colombo,
Negombo
and
Batticaloa
at
approximately
8:45
a.m.
Sunday
as
worshipers
were
gathering
for
services,
police
said.
Ruwan
Wijewardene,
the
state
defense
minister,
said the
attacks
were
carried
out by
suicide
bombers.
Six of
the
attacks
occurred
between
8:45 and
9:30
a.m.
There
was a
seventh
blast at
a
banquet
hall
about 2
p.m. and
an
eighth
at the
house
raided
by
police
around
2:45
p.m.
The
deadliest
attack
was at
St.
Sebastian’s
Church
in
Negombo,
known as
“little
Rome”
for its
Catholic
presence.
Also
targeted
was St.
Anthony’s
Shrine,
Kochchikade,
the
largest
Catholic
congregation
in
Colombo,
and Zion
Church
in the
eastern
city of
Batticaloa.
Two
people
at the
Shangri-La
Hotel
described
a
powerful
explosion
that
made the
ground
shake
just
before 9
a.m.
Photos
showed
broken
windows
and
shattered
glass on
a street
next to
the
hotel.
Sarita
Marlou,
a guest
at the
hotel,
wrote on
Facebook
that she
felt the
impact
of the
explosion
in the
hotel’s
flagship
restaurant
all the
way up
on the
17th
floor.
She
described
seeing
pools of
blood as
she
evacuated
the
hotel.
Also
targeted
were the
ground-floor
Taprobane
restaurant
at the
Cinnamon
Grand
Hotel
and the
luxury
Kingsbury
Hotel.
Three
police
officers
were
killed
in a
“scuffle”
at a
home in
the
Dematagoda
area of
Colombo,
police
said.
They had
gone
there to
interrogate
an
individual.
Pompeo
condemned
the
attacks
“in the
strongest
terms.”
“Attacks
on
innocent
people
gathering
in a
place of
worship
or
enjoying
a
holiday
meal are
affronts
to the
universal
values
and
freedoms
that we
hold
dear,
and
demonstrate
yet
again
the
brutal
nature
of
radical
terrorists
whose
sole aim
is to
threaten
peace
and
security,”
he said
in a
statement.
In
an
updated
travel
advisory
issued
late
Sunday,
the
State
Department
warned
that
“terrorist
groups
continue
plotting
possible
attacks
in Sri
Lanka,”
citing
threats
to
tourist
sites,
shopping
malls,
hotels,
places
of
worship
and
other
public
areas.
Sri
Lankan
authorities
blocked
Facebook
and the
messaging
application
WhatsApp
in an
attempt
to halt
the
spread
of false
and
inflammatory
messages.
Security
was
heightened
at
churches
across
the
country,
and the
streets
of
Colombo
grew
quiet
and
deserted
as the
curfew
took
effect.
Wickremesinghe,
the
prime
minister,
condemned
“the
cowardly
attacks
on our
people
today”
and
urged
the
country
to
remain
“united
and
strong.”
The
SITE
Intelligence
Group,
which
tracks
extremist
activity
online,
reported
Sunday
that
Islamic
State
supporters
were
portraying
the
attacks
as
revenge
for
strikes
on
mosques
and
Muslims.
Yousef
A. Al-Othaimeen,
the head
of the
Organization
of
Islamic
Cooperation,
“strongly
condemned”
the
“cowardly
attacks
[on]
innocent
worshipers
and
civilians.”
The OIC
represents
57
predominantly
Muslim
nations.
People
in Sri
Lanka
expressed
a sense
of
disbelief
at the
eruption
of
violence.
Biraj
Patnaik,
South
Asia
director
for the
human
rights
group
Amnesty
International,
said Sri
Lanka
has
witnessed
rising
hostility
toward
Christians
and
Muslims
in
recent
years,
including
repeated
attempted
to
disrupt
prayers
at
churches.
But the
scale of
Sunday’s
attacks,
he said,
was
“shocking
and
unprecedented.”
The
bombings
were the
worst
violence
to hit
Colombo
since
1996,
when a
blast at
the
country’s
central
bank
killed
nearly
100
people.
That
attack
was
carried
out by
the
Liberation
Tigers
of Tamil
Eelam,
or Tamil
Tigers,
which
waged a
war for
a
separate
Tamil
homeland
in Sri
Lanka’s
north
for more
than 30
years.
Messages
of
condolence
and
condemnation
on
Sunday
poured
in from
around
the
world.
President
Trump
tweeted:
“The
United
States
offers
heartfelt
condolences
to the
great
people
of Sri
Lanka.
We stand
ready to
help!”
Pope
Francis
during
his
Easter
address
called
the
attacks
“horrendous”
and
expressed
a
“heartfelt
closeness
to the
Christian
community,
attacked
while
gathered
in
prayer,
and to
all the
victims
of such
a cruel
act of
violence.”
“I
entrust
to the
Lord all
who so
tragically
died,
and I
pray for
the
wounded
and all
those
who
suffer
because
of this
traumatic
event,”
Francis
said.
India,
Sri
Lanka’s
neighbor,
strongly
condemned
what it
called a
“ghastly
and
heinous
act” and
said it
stood
with the
people
of Sri
Lanka
“in this
hour of
grief.”
joanna.slater@washpost.com
shibani.mahtani@washpost.com
Mahtani
reported
from
Hong
Kong.
Rukshana
Rizwie
in
Colombo,
Niha
Masih in
New
Delhi,
and
Chico
Harlan
in Rome
contributed
to this
report.
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