. . . in the most spectacular and breathtaking way so this politician who so unforgivably dropped the ball can appear effective.
Sri Lanka’s President Vows a Search of Every Home, as Violence Erupts Again
Sri Lanka will conduct a house-to-house search of the entire country to root out terrorists in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombings, the president said on Friday, even as fresh violence and a massive hunt for people linked to the attack continued to shake the country.
Seeking to deflect blame for the government’s failure to act on warnings that suicide bombings were imminent, President Maithripala Sirisena said that officials had not told him of the threat, and vowed a “total reorganization” of Sri Lanka’s security apparatus.
“Every household in the country will be checked,” Mr. Sirisena said in a meeting at his official residence with the heads of Sri Lankan media organizations, according to a statement released by his office.
“The lists of permanent residents of every house will be established to ensure no unknown persons could live anywhere.”
Time for someone to tell him if he does all that "the terrorists will have won"?
The Times' writer goes on,
In a nation of 21 million people — about the same population as Florida — that would require an enormous effort.
Showing posts with label Easter Jihad bombings Sri Lanka 2019. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter Jihad bombings Sri Lanka 2019. Show all posts
Friday, April 26, 2019
Thursday, April 25, 2019
The continuing threat of terrorism in Sri Lanka
Sunni terrorists turn their attention to Sufis.
Sri Lanka Is Rattled by New Threats
Police officials in Sri Lanka warned on Thursday of possible new attacks on religious services, as Muslim leaders urged the cancellation of Friday Prayer and the country’s highest Roman Catholic prelate suspended worship services through the weekend.
Officials said privately that the authorities were trying to find at least one person believed to be armed with explosives.
The police said the number of people arrested in the investigation had passed 70.
A letter distributed to security officials said there was “credible information” that National Thowheeth Jama’ath, the radical Islamist group thought to have carried out the bombings on Sunday, was planning another attack “specifically targeting Sufi shrines.”
Several officials confirmed the authenticity of the letter, and the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said in more general terms that the security services were hunting for people believed to be planning more terrorist attacks.
Sri Lanka Is Rattled by New Threats
Police officials in Sri Lanka warned on Thursday of possible new attacks on religious services, as Muslim leaders urged the cancellation of Friday Prayer and the country’s highest Roman Catholic prelate suspended worship services through the weekend.
Officials said privately that the authorities were trying to find at least one person believed to be armed with explosives.
The police said the number of people arrested in the investigation had passed 70.
A letter distributed to security officials said there was “credible information” that National Thowheeth Jama’ath, the radical Islamist group thought to have carried out the bombings on Sunday, was planning another attack “specifically targeting Sufi shrines.”
Several officials confirmed the authenticity of the letter, and the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said in more general terms that the security services were hunting for people believed to be planning more terrorist attacks.
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
60 arrested in the Sri Lanka bombings
Sri Lanka Calls Bombers ‘Well Educated’ and Warns of Ongoing Threat
Nine suicide bombers from mostly educated, middle-class backgrounds carried out the attacks in Sri Lanka that killed more than 350 people on Easter Sunday, the authorities said on Wednesday as they warned of an ongoing terrorist threat and continued making arrests.
The bombers, one of whom was a woman, were all Sri Lankan, officials said.
But the authorities were continuing to investigate whether the Islamic State, which on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the coordinated blasts, had provided more than symbolic support, such as by training the attackers or building the bombs.
The authorities said the number of people arrested had risen to 60, and that other individuals involved in the attacks remained at large.
As the F.B.I. arrived to assist in the investigation, the American ambassador, Alaina Teplitz, said there were believed to be “ongoing terrorist plots,” and Sri Lanka’s state minister of defense said the danger had not passed.
“There could be still a few people out there,” the minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, said at a news conference. “Right now, we are asking people to be vigilant. Within the next few days, we will have the situation totally under control.”
. . . .
The Islamic State has not provided any further proof for its claim of responsibility, and Mr. Wijewardene said investigators were trying to determine whether the group had provided training or financing for the attacks.
He said they had found no evidence to suggest that the bombers had traveled to the Middle East to fight for ISIS.
. . . .
An Indian security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said India had interrogated a man last year who was linked with ISIS, and who said he was inspired by Mr. Zaharan’s videos on social media.
That intelligence prompted an investigation into Mr. Zaharan, and it was part of the context for an April 11 warning that the Indians sent to the Sri Lankan authorities about the possibility of church bombings.
The warning was never relayed to church officials, and the Sri Lankan authorities apparently took no action against members of Mr. Zaharan’s group, despite specific information provided by the Indians.
The Indians repeated the warning just hours before the bombings, telling the Sri Lankans that an attack was imminent, according to an Indian official.
Nine suicide bombers from mostly educated, middle-class backgrounds carried out the attacks in Sri Lanka that killed more than 350 people on Easter Sunday, the authorities said on Wednesday as they warned of an ongoing terrorist threat and continued making arrests.
The bombers, one of whom was a woman, were all Sri Lankan, officials said.
But the authorities were continuing to investigate whether the Islamic State, which on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the coordinated blasts, had provided more than symbolic support, such as by training the attackers or building the bombs.
The authorities said the number of people arrested had risen to 60, and that other individuals involved in the attacks remained at large.
As the F.B.I. arrived to assist in the investigation, the American ambassador, Alaina Teplitz, said there were believed to be “ongoing terrorist plots,” and Sri Lanka’s state minister of defense said the danger had not passed.
“There could be still a few people out there,” the minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, said at a news conference. “Right now, we are asking people to be vigilant. Within the next few days, we will have the situation totally under control.”
. . . .
The Islamic State has not provided any further proof for its claim of responsibility, and Mr. Wijewardene said investigators were trying to determine whether the group had provided training or financing for the attacks.
He said they had found no evidence to suggest that the bombers had traveled to the Middle East to fight for ISIS.
. . . .
An Indian security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said India had interrogated a man last year who was linked with ISIS, and who said he was inspired by Mr. Zaharan’s videos on social media.
That intelligence prompted an investigation into Mr. Zaharan, and it was part of the context for an April 11 warning that the Indians sent to the Sri Lankan authorities about the possibility of church bombings.
The warning was never relayed to church officials, and the Sri Lankan authorities apparently took no action against members of Mr. Zaharan’s group, despite specific information provided by the Indians.
The Indians repeated the warning just hours before the bombings, telling the Sri Lankans that an attack was imminent, according to an Indian official.
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
ISIS claims Sri Lanka Easter bombings
Suspicious that they waited two days to make the claim.
The death toll is now over 300.
Isis claims Easter attacks
Subtitle: Bombings that killed more than 320 people have hallmarks of Isis, say security experts
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 320 people, the group’s Amaq news agency has said, with experts saying the attacks bear the hallmarks of the group.
It is the deadliest overseas operation claimed by Isis since it proclaimed its “caliphate” almost five years ago, and would suggest it retains the ability to launch devastating strikes around the world despite multiple defeats in the Middle East.
The group published a statement saying its “fighters” were responsible for the attack and listing the names of the suicide bombers, who were also shown in a video swearing allegiance.
Experts said that although Isis had made false claims of responsibility in the past, it appeared likely that its involvement in the suicide bombings of three churches and three luxury hotels on Sunday would be confirmed by ongoing investigations.
. . . .
Earlier, Sri Lanka’s defence minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, said the attacks had been a response to the recent mass shooting of Muslim worshippers in Christchurch in New Zealand.
“The preliminary investigations have revealed that what happened in Sri Lanka was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch,” Wijewardene told a special sitting of parliament, referring to the terrorist attack by a white supremacist in March in which 50 people were killed.
The minister did not present any evidence for his claim.
The death toll is now over 300.
Isis claims Easter attacks
Subtitle: Bombings that killed more than 320 people have hallmarks of Isis, say security experts
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the Easter bombings in Sri Lanka that killed more than 320 people, the group’s Amaq news agency has said, with experts saying the attacks bear the hallmarks of the group.
It is the deadliest overseas operation claimed by Isis since it proclaimed its “caliphate” almost five years ago, and would suggest it retains the ability to launch devastating strikes around the world despite multiple defeats in the Middle East.
The group published a statement saying its “fighters” were responsible for the attack and listing the names of the suicide bombers, who were also shown in a video swearing allegiance.
Experts said that although Isis had made false claims of responsibility in the past, it appeared likely that its involvement in the suicide bombings of three churches and three luxury hotels on Sunday would be confirmed by ongoing investigations.
. . . .
Earlier, Sri Lanka’s defence minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, said the attacks had been a response to the recent mass shooting of Muslim worshippers in Christchurch in New Zealand.
“The preliminary investigations have revealed that what happened in Sri Lanka was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch,” Wijewardene told a special sitting of parliament, referring to the terrorist attack by a white supremacist in March in which 50 people were killed.
The minister did not present any evidence for his claim.
Monday, April 22, 2019
"There was an international network"
Local Group Is Blamed for Attacks, but Sri Lanka Suspects ‘International Network’
Sri Lankan officials said on Monday that the coordinated bombings of churches and hotels across the country on Easter Sunday had been carried out by National Thowheeth Jama’ath, a little-known radical Islamist group, with help from international militants.
Rajitha Senaratne, the Sri Lankan health minister, blamed the group at a news conference in Colombo, the capital, adding: “There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.”
The government announced that it was asking other countries for help in uncovering international links, and that it was assuming emergency powers in order to investigate the attacks. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed for the second consecutive night.
Sri Lankan officials said on Monday that the coordinated bombings of churches and hotels across the country on Easter Sunday had been carried out by National Thowheeth Jama’ath, a little-known radical Islamist group, with help from international militants.
Rajitha Senaratne, the Sri Lankan health minister, blamed the group at a news conference in Colombo, the capital, adding: “There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.”
The government announced that it was asking other countries for help in uncovering international links, and that it was assuming emergency powers in order to investigate the attacks. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed for the second consecutive night.
Social media empower stupidity and hatred and cause violence
Sri Lanka Shut Down Social Media. My First Thought Was ‘Good.’
Subtitle: As a tech journalist, I’m ashamed to admit it. But this is how bad the situation has gotten.
Good, because it could save lives.
Good, because the companies that run these platforms seem incapable of controlling the powerful global tools they have built.
Good, because the toxic digital waste of misinformation that floods these platforms has overwhelmed what was once so very good about them.
And indeed, by Sunday morning so many false reports about the carnage were already circulating online that the Sri Lankan government worried more violence would follow.
It pains me as a journalist, and someone who once believed that a worldwide communications medium would herald more tolerance, to admit this — to say that my first instinct was to turn it all off.
But it has become clear to me with every incident that the greatest experiment in human interaction in the history of the world continues to fail in ever more dangerous ways.
. . . .
I noted this in my very first column for The Times almost a year ago, when I called social media giants “digital arms dealers of the modern age” who had, by sloppy design, weaponized pretty much everything that could be weaponized.
“They have weaponized civic discourse,” I wrote.
“And they have weaponized, most of all, politics. Which is why malevolent actors continue to game the platforms and why there’s still no real solution in sight anytime soon, because they were built to work exactly this way.”
. . . .
But while social media had once been credited with helping foster democracy in places like Sri Lanka, it is now blamed for an increase in religious hatred.
That justification was behind another brief block a year ago, aimed at Facebook, where the Sri Lankan government said posts appeared to have incited anti-Muslim violence.
“The extraordinary step reflects growing global concern, particularly among governments, about the capacity of American-owned networks to spin up violence,” The Times reported on Sunday.
Spin up violence indeed.
Just a month ago in New Zealand, a murderous shooter apparently radicalized by social media broadcast his heinous acts on those same platforms.
Let’s be clear, the hateful killer is to blame, but it is hard to deny that his crime was facilitated by tech.
. . . .
New Zealand, under the suffer-no-foolish-techies leadership of Jacinda Ardern, will be looking hard at imposing penalties on these companies for not controlling the spread of extremist content.
Australia already passed such a law in early April.
Here in the United States, our regulators are much farther behind, still debating whether it is a problem or not.
It is a problem, even if the manifestations of how these platforms get warped vary across the world.
They are different in ways that make no difference and the same in one crucial way that does.
Namely, social media has blown the lids off controls that have kept society in check.
These platforms give voice to everyone, but some of those voices are false or, worse, malevolent, and the companies continue to struggle with how to deal with them.
In the early days of the internet, there was a lot of talk of how this was a good thing, getting rid of those gatekeepers.
Well, they are gone now, and that means we need to have a global discussion involving all parties on how to handle the resulting disaster, well beyond adding more moderators or better algorithms.
Subtitle: As a tech journalist, I’m ashamed to admit it. But this is how bad the situation has gotten.
Good, because it could save lives.
Good, because the companies that run these platforms seem incapable of controlling the powerful global tools they have built.
Good, because the toxic digital waste of misinformation that floods these platforms has overwhelmed what was once so very good about them.
And indeed, by Sunday morning so many false reports about the carnage were already circulating online that the Sri Lankan government worried more violence would follow.
It pains me as a journalist, and someone who once believed that a worldwide communications medium would herald more tolerance, to admit this — to say that my first instinct was to turn it all off.
But it has become clear to me with every incident that the greatest experiment in human interaction in the history of the world continues to fail in ever more dangerous ways.
. . . .
I noted this in my very first column for The Times almost a year ago, when I called social media giants “digital arms dealers of the modern age” who had, by sloppy design, weaponized pretty much everything that could be weaponized.
“They have weaponized civic discourse,” I wrote.
“And they have weaponized, most of all, politics. Which is why malevolent actors continue to game the platforms and why there’s still no real solution in sight anytime soon, because they were built to work exactly this way.”
. . . .
But while social media had once been credited with helping foster democracy in places like Sri Lanka, it is now blamed for an increase in religious hatred.
That justification was behind another brief block a year ago, aimed at Facebook, where the Sri Lankan government said posts appeared to have incited anti-Muslim violence.
“The extraordinary step reflects growing global concern, particularly among governments, about the capacity of American-owned networks to spin up violence,” The Times reported on Sunday.
Spin up violence indeed.
Just a month ago in New Zealand, a murderous shooter apparently radicalized by social media broadcast his heinous acts on those same platforms.
Let’s be clear, the hateful killer is to blame, but it is hard to deny that his crime was facilitated by tech.
. . . .
New Zealand, under the suffer-no-foolish-techies leadership of Jacinda Ardern, will be looking hard at imposing penalties on these companies for not controlling the spread of extremist content.
Australia already passed such a law in early April.
Here in the United States, our regulators are much farther behind, still debating whether it is a problem or not.
It is a problem, even if the manifestations of how these platforms get warped vary across the world.
They are different in ways that make no difference and the same in one crucial way that does.
Namely, social media has blown the lids off controls that have kept society in check.
These platforms give voice to everyone, but some of those voices are false or, worse, malevolent, and the companies continue to struggle with how to deal with them.
In the early days of the internet, there was a lot of talk of how this was a good thing, getting rid of those gatekeepers.
Well, they are gone now, and that means we need to have a global discussion involving all parties on how to handle the resulting disaster, well beyond adding more moderators or better algorithms.
Sri Lanka attacks
Sri Lanka Was Warned of Possible Attacks. Why Didn’t It Stop Them?
The confidential security memo laid it all out: names, addresses, phone numbers, even the times in the middle of the night that one suspect would visit his wife.
In the days leading up to the devastating suicide attacks that killed nearly 300 people in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, the country’s security agencies had been closely watching a secretive cell of the National Thowheeth Jama’ath, a little-known radical Islamist organization that security officials in Sri Lanka now say carried out the attacks.
The security agencies had even been given specific intelligence that the group, also known by the spelling National Thowheed Jama’ath, was planning to bomb Catholic churches.
And within hours of when three churches and three hotels were bombed, Sri Lankan security services seized at least 24 suspects, implying that they knew exactly where this group was operating and were quickly able to locate their safe houses.
Why the security agencies failed to act before the bombings — and why some top officials, including the country’s own prime minister, didn’t even know about the intelligence that the agencies possessed — are enormous questions that have created a crisis in the Sri Lankan government.
A seriously huge clusterfuck.
A very thorough article.
Much further down we see this.
The National Thowheeth Jama’ath group emerged around 2015 in the aftermath of attacks against Muslims.
A majority Buddhist nation, Sri Lanka has been mostly spared the religious-driven bloodshed of other South Asian nations, such as India and Pakistan.
But in recent years some Buddhist monks have turned militant and incited followers to attack Muslims, their places of worship and some of their businesses, such as slaughterhouses.
The Sri Lankan government’s security services appeared to have turned a blind eye, allowing Buddhist mobs to act with impunity.
In 2014, scores were injured and three people were killed in Buddhist-Muslim clashes. In response, some Muslims joined radical Islamist groups that they believed would defend their faith.
. . . .
The group [National Thowheeth Jama’ath] had never attempted such a devastating, coordinated attack, with numerous suicide bombers striking different places nearly simultaneously.
“The target selection and attack type make me very skeptical that this was carried out by a local group without any outside involvement,” said Amarnath Amarasingam, a specialist in Sri Lankan extremism at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a counterterrorism research group in London.
“There’s no reason for local extremist groups to attack churches, and little reason to attack tourists.”
The confidential security memo laid it all out: names, addresses, phone numbers, even the times in the middle of the night that one suspect would visit his wife.
In the days leading up to the devastating suicide attacks that killed nearly 300 people in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, the country’s security agencies had been closely watching a secretive cell of the National Thowheeth Jama’ath, a little-known radical Islamist organization that security officials in Sri Lanka now say carried out the attacks.
The security agencies had even been given specific intelligence that the group, also known by the spelling National Thowheed Jama’ath, was planning to bomb Catholic churches.
And within hours of when three churches and three hotels were bombed, Sri Lankan security services seized at least 24 suspects, implying that they knew exactly where this group was operating and were quickly able to locate their safe houses.
Why the security agencies failed to act before the bombings — and why some top officials, including the country’s own prime minister, didn’t even know about the intelligence that the agencies possessed — are enormous questions that have created a crisis in the Sri Lankan government.
A seriously huge clusterfuck.
A very thorough article.
Much further down we see this.
The National Thowheeth Jama’ath group emerged around 2015 in the aftermath of attacks against Muslims.
A majority Buddhist nation, Sri Lanka has been mostly spared the religious-driven bloodshed of other South Asian nations, such as India and Pakistan.
But in recent years some Buddhist monks have turned militant and incited followers to attack Muslims, their places of worship and some of their businesses, such as slaughterhouses.
The Sri Lankan government’s security services appeared to have turned a blind eye, allowing Buddhist mobs to act with impunity.
In 2014, scores were injured and three people were killed in Buddhist-Muslim clashes. In response, some Muslims joined radical Islamist groups that they believed would defend their faith.
. . . .
The group [National Thowheeth Jama’ath] had never attempted such a devastating, coordinated attack, with numerous suicide bombers striking different places nearly simultaneously.
“The target selection and attack type make me very skeptical that this was carried out by a local group without any outside involvement,” said Amarnath Amarasingam, a specialist in Sri Lankan extremism at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a counterterrorism research group in London.
“There’s no reason for local extremist groups to attack churches, and little reason to attack tourists.”
Sunday, April 21, 2019
Easter bombings in Sri Lanka work of "religious extremists".
Seven [update: now thirteen] people arrested, but no one is giving any further information, either who they were or what was their purpose.
It appears the government is terrified it may spark a huge wave of sectarian violence.
More than 200 dead in church and hotel bombings across country
At least 207 people were killed and hundreds more wounded in a series of bomb blasts that hit luxury hotels and churches across Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, leaving the entire country in a state of lock-down.
The first wave of attacks struck at the heart of the country's minority Christian community during busy Easter services at churches in the cities of Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa on Sunday morning.
Additional blasts ripped through three high-end hotels, the Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury, all in capital city Colombo.
The violence punctured a decade of relative peace in the country following the end of its civil war in 2009 -- where attacks were common during the 25-year struggle.
Sri Lanka has since turned itself into a popular tourist destination, winning the title of best place in the world to visit in 2019 by travel guide publisher Lonely Planet.
"These are certainly acts of terror," the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to the UK Manisha Gunasekera told CNN on Sunday, suggesting that suicide bombings had been "carried out."
"This is an attack against the whole of Sri Lanka because Sri Lanka is [a] multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural country and the whole country comes together in celebration of Easter Sunday."
. . . .
Here's the full list of blast sites reported so far:
St. Anthony's Shrine, Colombo
St. Sebastian's Church, Negombo
Zion Church, Batticaloa
Cinnamon Grand, Colombo
Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo
The Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo
Near Dehiwala Zoo in Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia
A house in Mahawila Gardens, Dematagoda
For Sri Lanka, a Long History of Violence
It appears the government is terrified it may spark a huge wave of sectarian violence.
More than 200 dead in church and hotel bombings across country
At least 207 people were killed and hundreds more wounded in a series of bomb blasts that hit luxury hotels and churches across Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, leaving the entire country in a state of lock-down.
The first wave of attacks struck at the heart of the country's minority Christian community during busy Easter services at churches in the cities of Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa on Sunday morning.
Additional blasts ripped through three high-end hotels, the Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury, all in capital city Colombo.
The violence punctured a decade of relative peace in the country following the end of its civil war in 2009 -- where attacks were common during the 25-year struggle.
Sri Lanka has since turned itself into a popular tourist destination, winning the title of best place in the world to visit in 2019 by travel guide publisher Lonely Planet.
"These are certainly acts of terror," the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to the UK Manisha Gunasekera told CNN on Sunday, suggesting that suicide bombings had been "carried out."
"This is an attack against the whole of Sri Lanka because Sri Lanka is [a] multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural country and the whole country comes together in celebration of Easter Sunday."
. . . .
Here's the full list of blast sites reported so far:
St. Anthony's Shrine, Colombo
St. Sebastian's Church, Negombo
Zion Church, Batticaloa
Cinnamon Grand, Colombo
Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo
The Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo
Near Dehiwala Zoo in Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia
A house in Mahawila Gardens, Dematagoda
For Sri Lanka, a Long History of Violence
About 22 million people live in Sri Lanka, in communities that are often diverse and mixed.
More than 70 percent of the population is Buddhist.
Smaller ethnic and religious groups include Hindus, at over 12 percent, Muslims at under 10 percent, and Catholics at about 6 percent.
At least three churches were targeted by Sunday’s bombings.
Despite their clear majority, Sinhalese Buddhist nationalists have recently been stoking fears that the minority groups, particularly the Muslims, are increasing in numbers and influence.
The nationalist fervor has led to violent clashes.
A long history of disenfranchisement among minority Tamil groups, who are largely Hindu, at the hands of the Sinhalese Buddhists led to a civil war in the 1980s.
The Tamil Tigers, an armed insurgent group that identified itself as secular, launched deadly attacks, including some of the earliest use of suicide bombings as a tactic of insurgency.
In response, the Sri Lankan Army carried out brutal campaigns, largely focused on the Tamil stronghold in the northeast.
The civil war ended in 2009 after a large-scale operation by the army that defeated the Tamil Tigers and killed its leader.
There is no exact casualty toll, but the United Nations has suggested that as many as 40,000 civilians were killed in the last stage of the war alone.
. . . .
With the rise of Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, sectarian divides have continued to grow — and the country has experienced new waves of violence.
A rise in intolerance has been attributed in part to the postwar triumphalism of some Sinhalese majority politicians.
Last year, officials declared a state of emergency in the central district of Kandy after Buddhist mobs attacked businesses and homes belonging to minority Muslims.
Coordinated bombings ripped across Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, striking hotels and churches, killing more than 200 people, wounding hundreds and shattering the relative calm that the war-torn nation had enjoyed in recent years.
The targets were members of Sri Lanka’s small Roman Catholic minority attending Easter Mass and guests at high-end hotels popular with foreign tourists.
By Sunday afternoon, soldiers had shut down roads across the country, and a jittery government had imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
The government temporarily blocked major social media and messaging services, including Facebook and WhatsApp, to prevent the spread of misinformation online, according to the president’s secretary, Udaya Seneviratne.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks in Colombo, the capital; Negombo, a city about 20 miles north of Colombo; and the eastern city of Batticaloa.
At least 207 people were killed and at least 450 wounded, said Ruwan Gunasekera, a police spokesman.
Ravinatha Aryasinha, the secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said 27 foreigners were among the dead.
. . . .
The country has struggled with sectarian divisions, including last year, when the government temporarily shut down Facebook and WhatsApp in an effort to curb anti-Muslim violence.
The prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, warned the public not to believe false information circulating online about the bombings on Sunday.
Sri Lanka imposes curfew after at least 207 killed in attacks
Sri Lanka imposes curfew after at least 207 killed in attacks
Ruwan Wijewardena, the minister of defence, said investigations had established that suicide bombers were responsible for the majority of the morning’s bombings and that the wave of attacks was the work of a single group.
- At least 207 people have been killed and 450 more injured in a series of explosions targeting churches holding Easter services and hotels in Sri Lanka.
- Most of the dead are believed to have been Sri Lankans, but officials say about 30 people from other countries have lost their lives. Three UK nationals and two US-UK dual nationals were among the dead. One Dutch, one Chinese, one Portuguese and two Turkish nationals have been killed, their respective foreign ministries have confirmed.
- No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but Sri Lanka’s defence minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, said the culprits had been identified and were religious extremists. He said suicide bombers were responsible for the majority of the morning’s bombings and that the wave of attacks was the work of a single group.
- Thirteen people have been reported to have been arrested so far.
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