Sri Lanka Easter bombings
Mass casualties in churches and hotels
Al Jazeera English
April 21, 2019 (Easter Sunday)
Minelle Fernandez in Colombo
Additional reporting by
Dilrukshi Handunnetti
from ColomboSeven suspects arrested, after series of bombings kills over 200 people
and wounds 450 others on Easter Sunday.
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A series of coordinated bombings have struck churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, killing 207 people in the worst attacks in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war 10 years ago, police said.
At least 450 people were wounded, after the island nation was hit by a total of eight explosions, police said adding, several of the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.
Most of the victims were killed in three churches, where worshippers were attending Easter Sunday services. Three other bombings struck luxury hotels - the Cinnamon Grand, the Kingsbury and the Shangri-La - located in the heart of the capital Colombo, killing at least 35 foreigners.
Among the dead were Japanese, Dutch, British, American and Portuguese tourists, according to AFP news agency.
No immediate claim of responsibility was made for the carnage in a country, that was at war for decades with Tamil separatists until 2009, a time, when bomb blasts in Colombo and elsewhere were common.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned the attacks saying, it is "an attempt to make the country and its economy unstable".
He held an emergency meeting with the country's top military officials of the National Security Council and called for an emergency meeting of the nation's parliament on Monday.
"I condemn these attacks, which targeted religious places and some hotels. We all should join hands to protect law and order," Wickremesinghe said.
"I have already instructed the Secretary of Defence, Tri Forces Commanders and the Inspector General of Police to take stringent action to ensure law and order in the country."
The seventh blast occurred at a hotel near the national zoo in the capital, killing two people, police said, while the eighth hit the suburb of Orugodawatta, north of Colombo, when officers entered a residence to search it.
The explosion brought down the upper level of the home and killed three police officers, the police source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
'Impartial inquiry'
Local Christian groups have said, they faced increasing intimidation from some hardline Buddhist monks in recent years. Last year there were clashes between the majority Sinhalese Buddhist community and minority Muslims, with some Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam.
Sri Lanka's most senior Catholic figure called on the government to find the attackers behind the deadly blasts.
"I would also like to ask the government to hold a very impartial strong inquiry and find out, who is responsible behind this act and also to punish them mercilessly, because only animals can behave like that," Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, told reporters.
Out of Sri Lanka's total population of about 22 million, 70 percent are Buddhist, 12.6 percent Hindu, 9.7 percent Muslim and 7.6 percent Christian, according to the country's 2012 census.
Sri Lanka's Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said, seven suspects were arrested.
Suicide attacks
A hotel official at the Cinnamon Grand said, a suicide bomber blew himself up at the facility's restaurant. "He came up to the top of the queue and set off the blast," he said.
The series of attacks started with the bombing of St. Anthony's Shrine in the capital. Five other blasts followed within half an hour, including the bombings on St. Sebastian's church in Negombo, about 30 km from the capital and another in Batticaloa, 250 km east of the capital.
St. Anthony's Shrine, after an explosion hit the site in Kochchikade, Colombo. [Chamila Karunarathne/Anadolu Agency]
Several people were killed, as worshippers attended Easter service. [Chamila Karunarathne/Anadolu Agency]
Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said, the wounded were being evacuated, while security forces cordoned off the areas and search operations were under way.
Photos circulating on social media showed, the roof of one church had been blown almost entirely off in the blast.
The floor was littered with a mixture of roof tiles, splintered wood and blood.
Several people could be seen covered in blood, some trying to help those with more serious wounds.
Government response
The Sri Lankan government declared a nationwide curfew with immediate effect, Defence Minister Ruwan said.
Government officials also said, major social media networks and messaging apps, including Facebook and WhatsApp, were blocked inside the country to prevent misinformation and rumours.
"This is only a temporary measure," Udaya R Seneviratne, secretary to the president, said in a statement.
Al Jazeera's Minelle Fernandez, reporting from Colombo, said, the crisis was still unfolding.
"We're hearing, that Colombo national hospital is still receiving casualties brought in from the multiple locations.
"In terms of law enforcement, we've been hearing, that all festivities have been cancelled, that security in and around the city has been tightened," Fernandez said.
"It's still very open-ended… It's too early [to speculate, who is responsible], but security in the capital and the airport has been stepped up following the attacks."
Coordinated attacks
Rajiva Wijesinha, a former member of the Sri Lankan parliament, told Al Jazeera, the coordinated nature of the attacks shocked the country.
"It's actually extremely chilling. We've never had anything of this sort before. Sri Lanka had a terrible time under Tamil Tiger terrorism for about 25 years and then there was a great sense of relief, which - I am afraid - the West has been fighting with us about, when we got rid of the Tiger terrorists," Rajiva said.
"But the Tiger terrorists were never as well organised and never quite as brilliant in synchronisation and this is obviously something on a much larger scale, which is frankly quite terrifying," he said.
"The range of these attacks and the concentration on the Christian churches and then the hotels, as well, suggest, we are dealing with something really quite horrible."
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Colombo, Ashwin Hemmathagama, a reporter with the Daily FT, said, the attacks were a blow to the country's tourism sector.
"At the moment police have cordoned off the areas and cautioned the public to remain vigilant. They have asked the public to stay indoors and avoid hasty decisions, because investigations are under way," Hemmathagama said.
"After the civil war ended almost a decade ago, the tourism industry was picking up. Basically everything was back to its current perspective, but unfortunately this kind of attack will definitely cripple the tourism sector."
Foreign relatives of a victim of a blast react at the police mortuary in Colombo, Sri Lanka. [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]
Relatives of a victim of the explosion at St. Anthony's Shrine react at the mortuary in Colombo. [Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters]
