Minggu, 21 April 2019

Sri Lanka bombings: At least 207 people killed by explosions in Sri Lanka capital of Colombo, churches and hotels targeted — live updates - CBS News

Colombo, Sri Lanka — At least 207 people were killed and hundreds more injured in eight blasts that rocked churches and hotels in and just outside Sri Lanka's capital on Easter Sunday, officials said, pitching the South Asian island nation into the worst chaos it has seen since a bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene, who described the blasts as a terrorist attack by religious extremists, told reporters Sunday evening that seven suspects had been arrested, though no one immediately claimed responsibility for the blasts. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the violence could trigger instability in the country and its economy.

Since the end of the nation's 26-year civil war, in which the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group from the ethnic Tamil minority, sought independence from ethnic Sinhala Buddhist majority Sri Lanka, the country has seen sporadic ethnic and religious violence.

But the scale of Sunday's bloodshed recalled the worst days of the war, when the Tigers and other rebels set off explosions at Sri Lanka's Central Bank in downtown Colombo, a busy shopping mall, an important Buddhist temple and tourist hotels.

Sri Lanka Church Blasts
Relatives of a blast victim grieve outside a morgue in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019.  Eranga Jayawardena / AP

Wickremesinghe said his government would "vest all necessary powers with the defense forces" to take action against those responsible" for Sunday's attacks, "regardless of their stature."

The nearly simultaneous first six blasts Sunday morning toppled ceilings and blew out windows at a famous Catholic church in Colombo, the capital, and at three luxury hotels in the city. The other two occurred at St. Sebastian Catholic church in Negombo, a majority Catholic town north of Colombo where footage showed people dragging the injured out of blood-splattered pews, and at the Protestant Zion church in the eastern town of Batticaloa.

Three police officers were killed while conducting a search operation at a suspected safe house in Dematagoda, on the outskirts of Colombo, where the last of eight blasts took place.

After police moved into Dematagoda, at least two more blasts occurred, with the occupants of a safe house apparently blasting explosives to prevent arrest.

Shops were closed and streets deserted in Colombo even before the government imposed a nationwide curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said 207 people were killed and 450 wounded in the blasts.

Priests walk into the St. Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade church after an explosion in Colombo
Priests walk into the St. Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade church after an explosion in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 21, 2019. DINUKA LIYANAWATTE / REUTERS

Two of the blasts were suspected to have been carried out by suicide bombers, a senior official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with reporters. Worshippers and hotel guests were among the dead, the official said.

Sri Lanka's foreign secretary, Ravinath Aryasinghe, said the bodies of 27 foreigners were recovered from the blast sites.

Countries around the world condemned the attacks, and Pope Francis added an appeal at the end of his traditional Easter Sunday blessing to address the massacre.

Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Francis said, "I want to express my loving closeness to the Christian community, targeted while they were gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence."

"I entrust to the Lord all those who were tragically killed and pray for the injured and all those who are suffering as a result of this dramatic event," the pope added.

Sri Lanka, a small island nation at the southern tip of India, has a long history with Christianity. Christian tradition holds that St. Thomas the Apostle visited Sri Lanka and southern India in the decades after the death of Christ.

The majority of the island's Christians are Roman Catholic.

St. Anthony's Shrine and the three hotels where the blasts took place are frequented by foreign tourists.

Local TV showed damage at the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels.

The Shangri-La's second-floor restaurant was gutted in the blast, with the ceiling and windows blown out. Loose wires hung and tables were overturned in the blackened space.

A police magistrate was at the hotel to inspect the bodies recovered from the restaurant. From outside the police cordon, three bodies could be seen covered in white sheets.

Alex Agieleson, who was near St. Anthony's Shrine, said buildings shook with the blast, and that a number of injured people were carried away in ambulances.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, called on Sri Lanka's government to launch a "very impartial strong inquiry" and to punish those found responsible "mercilessly because only animals can behave like that."

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned the "devastating" attacks, and referred to the March 15 shootings at two mosques in her country's city of Christchurch in which 50 people died.

"New Zealand condemns all acts of terrorism and our resolve has only been strengthened by the attack on our soil," Ardern said. "New Zealand rejects all forms of extremism and stands for freedom of religion and the right to worship safely."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the blasts "an assault on all of humanity," while Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced them as "cruel and cynical."

British Prime Minister Teresa May said on Twitter, "We must stand together to make sure that no one should ever have to (practice) their faith in fear."

Foreign tourists on the Classic Sri Lankan tour hurriedly took to their cellphones to text family and loved ones around the world that they were OK after the blasts.

The group was on a 15-day tour of the tropical island nation, seeing sites including huge Buddhist monuments, tea plantations, jungle eco-lodges and famed sandy beaches.

The tour started last week in Negombo, a majority Catholic town north of Colombo where one of the blasts hit a church. It was to end in Colombo, but tour operators said the group may change its itinerary and decide to skip Colombo in light of the attacks.

As the nearest major town to the country's main airport, Negombo is a gateway for many travelers visiting Sri Lanka. Although not among the country's top beach destinations, it is home to plenty of hotels and resorts popular with foreign visitors.

"Having experienced the open and welcoming Sri Lanka during my last week travelling through the country, I had a sense that the country was turning the corner, and in particular those in the tourism industry were hopeful for the future," said Peter Kelson, 41, a technology manager from Sydney. "Apart from the tragedy of the immediate victims of the bombings, I worry that these terrible events will set the country back significantly."

Sri Lankan security forces in 2009 defeated Tamil Tiger rebels who had fought to create an independent homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils. The U.N. initially estimated the death toll from 26 years of fighting to be about 100,000 but a U.N. experts' panel later said some 45,000 ethnic Tamils may have been killed in the last months of the fighting alone.

Government troops and the Tamil Tigers were both accused of grave human rights violations, which prompted local and international calls for investigations.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sri-lanka-bombing-easter-sunday-explosions-rock-churches-hotels-today-2019-04-21/

2019-04-21 16:50:00Z
52780273201173

Sri Lanka bomb attacks strike chuches and hotels - CNN

Relatives of a victim of a blast at St. Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade, react at the police mortuary in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday.

Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

Updated 1439 GMT (2239 HKT) April 21, 2019

Relatives of a victim of a blast at St. Anthony's Shrine, Kochchikade, react at the police mortuary in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday.

Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

A series of bomb blasts struck luxury hotels and churches across Sri Lanka early Sunday. More than 200 people were killed and 560 injured in the coordinated attacks, which have put the entire country on lockdown.

The first wave of bombings 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.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/21/asia/gallery/sri-lanka-blasts/index.html

2019-04-21 14:39:00Z
52780273201173

Sri Lanka Bombings Live Updates: 'It Was a River of Blood' - The New York Times

As Christians in Sri Lanka gathered on Sunday morning to celebrate Easter Mass, the culmination of Holy Week, powerful explosions ripped through three churches packed with worshipers, leaving hundreds of victims amid a havoc of splintered and blood-spattered pews.

In what the police said were coordinated attacks carried out by a single group, bombers also struck three five-star hotels popular with tourists. At least 207 people were killed and 450 others injured, a police spokesman, Ruwan Gunasekera, said.

News of the bombings, the largest targeted attack on South Asian Christians in recent memory, rippled out all Easter morning, interrupting celebrations across the world. Pope Francis, after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square, said the attacks had “brought mourning and sorrow” on the most important of Christian holidays.

Sri Lanka emerged a decade ago from a bloody, 26-year civil war, during which Tamil guerrillas pioneered large-scale use of suicide bombing. Effective use of suicide bombers in Sri Lanka was then widely studied and copied in the Middle East.

“It has been 10 years since we last saw this kind of horror,” said Hemasiri Fernando, the country’s defense secretary.

• The wave of bombings began around 8:45 a.m., and targeted Roman Catholic houses of worship — St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, the capital; St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo; and Zion Church in Batticaloa — along with the luxury hotels the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand, and the Kingsbury, all in Colombo.

• Seven suspects were arrested in connection with the bombings, Sri Lanka’s defense minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, said. He said that suicide bombers had been behind the explosions.

• Sri Lanka temporarily blocked major social media and messaging services, including Facebook and WhatsApp, to curb misinformation, according to the president’s secretary, Udaya Seneviratne.

• At least 27 of the dead were foreigners, according to a spokesman at Sri Lanka’s National Hospital. They included British, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese nationals, according to officials and news reports.

Image
Covered bodies and debris in St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, after a string of explosions ripped through hotels and churches on Sunday.CreditIshara S. Kodikara/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Images from the bombing sites showed bloodied and shattered pews and victims lying on the floor of houses of worship. The walls and windows of the targeted hotels were blown out.

Some of the victims were killed as worshipers gathered for Mass at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo; St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, about 20 miles north of Colombo; and Zion Church in the eastern city of Batticaloa, officials said.

Bay of

Bengal

India

Palk Strait

Sri Lanka

Batticaloa

At least 27 dead

Negombo

At least 62 dead

Indian

Ocean

Colombo

At least 52 dead

100 miles

Bay of

Bengal

India

Palk Strait

Sri Lanka

Batticaloa

At least 27 dead

Negombo

At least 62 dead

Indian Ocean

Colombo

At least 52 dead

100 miles

Bay of

Bengal

India

Palk Strait

Sri Lanka

Batticaloa

At least 27 dead

Negombo

At least 62 dead

Indian Ocean

Colombo

At least 52 dead

100 miles

By Julie Shaver | Base map data from OpenStreetMap.

The attacks also targeted high-end hotels in the capital, including the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury.

Mangala Samaraweera, the Sri Lankan finance minister, called the explosions “a well-coordinated attempt to create murder, mayhem and anarchy.”

A witness, Sarita Marlou, who was at the Shangri-La hotel, wrote in a Facebook post that one blast occurred at 8:57 a.m. in the Table One Restaurant on the third floor where people had gathered for brunch.

“Felt the blast all the way up to the 17th floor where we were sleeping,” she wrote. “Few minutes later, we were asked to evacuate the hotel. While running down the stairs, saw a lot of blood on the floor but we were still clueless as to what really happened.”

Ms. Marlou posted that the guests had been stuck outside for more than two hours before being ushered back inside as the sun got hot. But they still were not cleared to go back to their rooms, she wrote.

N. A. Sumanapala, a shopkeeper near St. Anthony’s Shrine who said he had run inside to help, said: “It was a river of blood. Ash was falling like snow.”

Ruwan Wijewardene, the defense minister, said that seven people had been arrested and identified in connection with the attacks. The government also said that suicide bombers had set off the explosions.

“We believe these were coordinated attacks, and one group was behind them,” Mr. Wijewardene said. He urged the news media not to report the names of the attackers or to make them “martyrs.”

Three officers were killed while hunting for the attackers at a housing complex in the Colombo suburb of Dematagoda, officials said. The police said they had found explosives inside one of the apartments and that a firefight had broken out between officers and the suspects inside the building.

One suspect detonated explosives during questioning by the police inside a home in the suburb. Officials at the site said they believed the attacks had been planned there. As the authorities questioned members of the group, another suspect escaped, and was being sought by a circling helicopter.

Mr. Wijewardene said that police units had been put on alert a week ago by the force’s chief inspector, Pujith Jayasundara, about potential attacks on churches. It was unclear what steps had been taken to safeguard against attacks.

Sri Lankan officials also temporarily blocked several social media networks, including Facebook and Instagram. Users also reported being unable to access the messaging services WhatsApp and Viber. The government set a nationwide curfew from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday.

Though Sunday’s attacks have no known link to social media, Sri Lanka has a troubled history with racial violence incited on the platforms. Its ban was an extraordinary step that reflects growing global concerns about social media.

Last year, Sri Lanka briefly blocked social networks after viral misinformation and calls to anti-Muslim violence, circulating largely on Facebook, were blamed for a wave of riots and lynchings. Government officials had repeatedly warned Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, that the posts could lead to violence. Though the company promised to hire more moderators and improve communication, the episode left officials wary of the social media giant.

Other countries, such as India, have periodically blocked social media during spasms of violence linked to the platforms. While researchers have blamed Facebook for inciting racist attacks in a range of countries, including Germany, the risk is thought to be higher in places where trust in the local authorities is lower and histories of communal violence are more recent.

The growing concerns threaten Facebook’s long-term business model, which relies on near-constant growth in developing markets, particularly in Asia.

Sri Lanka’s ban on social media on Sunday represented an escalation in the global backlash against social media companies because the move appeared to be pre-emptive. Rather than trusting in Facebook and other companies to police their networks for hate speech or incitement that could arise as a result of Sunday’s attacks, the government was treating the platforms as too dangerous to remain online.

The prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, called for people not to believe false information circulating online. The Sri Lanka Red Cross also said in a tweet that online rumors that its building had been attacked were false.

Image
Mourners near St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo.CreditDinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

Sri Lanka’s civil war ended 10 years ago, but memories of urban carnage are still fresh, particularly for residents of the capital. During the conflict, brutal bombings of airports, bus stations, banks, cafes, and hotels were not uncommon.

The Cinnamon Grand, one of the hotels targeted on Sunday, had been blown up before, in 1984, when it was called the Hotel Lanka Oberoi.

The Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka traces its roots to the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 1500s and the subsequent influence of Portuguese, Dutch and Irish missionaries. Sri Lankan Catholics make up a significant minority of the country’s population, accounting for roughly 6 percent of the country and centered largely in the Colombo-Negombo area.

In 1995, Pope John Paul II traveled to Sri Lanka to canonize Joseph Vaz, an Indian-born priest and missionary.

Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that given Sri Lanka’s long history of ethnic and religious violence, including a nearly three-decade civil war that ended only in 2009, it was premature to jump to conclusions about whether radicalized Muslims might have played a role in the assault.

But the scale of the attacks and the death toll on Sunday were unprecedented, even by Sri Lanka’s bloody standards, Ms. Ganguly said.

“In three decades of war, this scale of attack has never happened,” she said. “In terms of serious, religion-based violence, we haven’t really seen that.”

Image
The blast shattered windows and walls at the Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo.CreditM. A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA, via Shutterstock

Pope Francis, after celebrating Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, said, “I want to express my affectionate closeness to the Christian community, struck while it was gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence.”

He added, “I entrust to the Lord all those who were tragically killed.”

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, called the blasts “horrific” in a post on Twitter. “There is no place for such barbarism in our region,” he wrote. India is Sri Lanka’s closest neighbor and shares many cultural and economic ties with the island nation.

Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan said his country “stands in complete solidarity with Sri Lanka in their hour of grief.”

Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany were among the European leaders to express their grief. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Union Commission, said that he had received news of the bombings “with horror and sadness.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey also wrote on Twitter that the attack had been “an assault on all of humanity.”

President Trump said on Twitter that the United States stood ready to help, though the tweet inflated the number of victims in a typo.

“Heartfelt condolences from the people of the United States to the people of Sri Lanka on the horrible terrorist attacks on churches and hotels,” he wrote, adding that the explosions had “killed at least 138 million people and badly injured 600 more.”

Image
Sri Lankan Special Task Force members during a raid on a house in a suburb of Colombo on Sunday.CreditIshara S. Kodikara/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/world/asia/sri-lanka-explosion.html

2019-04-21 13:55:43Z
52780273201173

Sri Lanka blasts: More than 200 dead in bombings across country - CNN

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYYkXszeOrc

2019-04-21 13:43:22Z
52780273201173

Sri Lanka Bombings Live Updates: ‘It Was a River of Blood’ - The New York Times

As Christians in Sri Lanka gathered on Sunday morning to celebrate Easter Mass, the culmination of Holy Week, powerful explosions ripped through three churches packed with worshipers, leaving hundreds of victims amid a havoc of splintered and blood-spattered pews.

In what the police said were coordinated attacks carried out by a single group, bombers also struck three five-star hotels popular with tourists. At least 207 people were killed and 450 others injured, a police spokesman, Ruwan Gunasekera, said.

News of the bombings, the largest targeted attack on South Asian Christians in recent memory, rippled out all Easter morning, interrupting celebrations across the world. Pope Francis, after completing a Mass in St. Peter’s Square, said the attacks had “brought mourning and sorrow” on the most important of Christian holidays.

Sri Lanka emerged a decade ago from a bloody, 26-year civil war, during which Tamil guerrillas pioneered large-scale use of suicide bombing. Effective use of suicide bombers in Sri Lanka was then widely studied and copied in the Mideast.

“It has been 10 years since we last saw this kind of horror,” said Hemasiri Fernando, the country’s defense secretary.

Sri Lanka’s state defense minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, urged the news media not to report the names of the attackers, which he said would make them “martyrs.”

• The wave of bombings began around 8:45 a.m., and targeted Catholic houses of worship — St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo and Zion Church in Batticaloa — along with the luxury hotels the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand the Kingsbury.

• Seven suspects were arrested in connection with the bombings, Mr. Wijewardene said, adding that suicide bombers had been behind the explosions.

• Sri Lanka temporarily blocked major social media and messaging services, including Facebook and WhatsApp, to curb misinformation, according to the president’s secretary, Udaya Seneviratne.

• At least 27 of the dead were foreigners, according to a spokesman at Sri Lanka’s National Hospital. They included British, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese nationals, according officials and news reports.

Image
Covered bodies and debris in St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, Sri Lanka, after a string of explosions ripped through hotels and churches on Sunday.CreditIshara S. Kodikara/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Images from the site of the bombings showed bloodied and shattered pews and victims lying on the floor of houses of worship. The walls and windows of the targeted hotels were blown out.

Some of the victims were killed as worshipers gathered for Mass at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, the capital; St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, about 20 miles north of Colombo; and Zion Church in the eastern city of Batticaloa, officials said.

The attacks also targeted high-end hotels in Colombo, the capital, including the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury.

Mangala Samaraweera, the Sri Lankan finance minister, called the explosions “a well-coordinated attempt to create murder, mayhem and anarchy.”

A witness, Sarita Marlou, who was at the Shangri-La hotel, wrote in a Facebook post that one blast occurred at 8:57 a.m. in the Table One Restaurant on the third floor where people had gathered for brunch.

“Felt the blast all the way up to the 17th floor where we were sleeping,” she wrote. “Few minutes later, we were asked to evacuate the hotel. While running down the stairs, saw a lot of blood on the floor but we were still clueless as to what really happened.”

Ms. Marlou posted that the guests had been stuck outside for more than two hours before being ushered back inside as the sun got hot. But they still were not cleared to go back to their rooms, she wrote.

N. A. Sumanapala, a shopkeeper near St. Anthony’s Shrine who had run inside to help, said: “It was a river of blood. Ash was falling like snow.”

Ruwan Wijewardene, the defense minister, said that seven people had been arrested and identified in connection with the attacks.

The government also said that suicide bombers had set off the explosions. “We believe these were coordinated attacks, and one group was behind them,” Mr. Wijewardene said. He urged the news media not to report the names of the attackers or to make them “martyrs.”

Three policemen were killed while hunting for the attackers at a housing complex in the Colombo suburb of Dematagoda. The police said they had found explosives inside one of the apartments and that a firefight had broken out between officers and the suspects inside the building. At least one explosion was reported from the Dematagoda housing complex.

One suspect detonated explosives during questioning by the police inside a home in the suburb. Officials at the site said they believed the attacks had been planned there. As police questioned members of the group, another suspect escaped, and was being sought by a circling helicopter.

Mr. Wijewardene said that police units had been put on alert a week ago by the force’s chief inspector, Pujith Jayasundara, regarding potential attacks on churches. It was unclear what steps had been taken to safeguard against attacks.

The government set a nationwide curfew from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday.

Sri Lankan officials also temporarily blocked several social media networks, including Facebook and Instagram. Users also reported being unable to access the messaging services WhatsApp and Viber.

Bay of

Bengal

India

Palk Strait

Sri Lanka

Batticaloa

At least 27 dead

Negombo

At least 62 dead

Colombo

At least 52 dead

Indian

Ocean

100 miles

Bay of

Bengal

India

Palk Strait

Sri Lanka

Batticaloa

At least 27 dead

Negombo

At least 62 dead

Indian Ocean

Colombo

At least 52 dead

100 miles

Bay of

Bengal

India

Palk Strait

Sri Lanka

Batticaloa

At least 27 dead

Negombo

At least 62 dead

Indian Ocean

Colombo

At least 52 dead

100 miles

By The New York Times

Though Sunday’s attacks have no known link to social media, Sri Lanka has a troubled history with racial violence incited on the platforms. Its ban was an extraordinary step that reflects growing global concerns about social media.

Last year, Sri Lanka briefly blocked social networks after viral misinformation and calls to anti-Muslim violence, circulating largely on Facebook, were blamed for a wave of riots and lynchings. Government officials had repeatedly warned Facebook, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, that the posts could lead to violence. Though the company promised to hire more moderators and improve communication, the incident left officials wary of the social media giant.

Other countries, such as India, have periodically blocked social media during spasms of violence linked to the platforms. While researchers have blamed Facebook for inciting racist attacks in a range of countries, including Germany, the risk is thought to be higher in places where trust in local authorities is lower and histories of communal violence are more recent.

The growing concerns threaten Facebook’s long-term business model, which relies on near-constant growth in developing markets, particularly in Asia.

Sri Lanka’s ban on social media on Sunday represented an escalation in the global backlash against social media companies because the move appeared to be pre-emptive. Rather than trusting in Facebook and other companies to police their networks for hate speech or incitement that could arise as a result of Sunday’s attacks, the government was treating the platforms as too dangerous to remain online.

The prime minister, Mr. Wickremesinghe, called for people not to believe false information circulating online. The Sri Lanka Red Cross also said in a tweet that online rumors that its building had been attacked were false.

Image
Mourners near St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo.CreditDinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

Sri Lanka’s civil war ended almost 10 years ago, but memories of urban carnage are still fresh, particularly for residents of the capital. During the conflict, brutal bombings of airports, bus stations, banks, cafes, and hotels were not uncommon.

The Cinnamon Grand, one of the hotels targeted on Sunday, had been blown up before, in 1984, when it was called the Hotel Lanka Oberoi.

The Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka traces its roots to the arrival of the Portuguese in the early 1500s and the subsequent influence of Portuguese, Dutch and Irish missionaries. Sri Lankan Catholics make up a significant minority of the country’s population, accounting for roughly 6 percent of the country and centered largely in the Colombo-Negombo area.

In 1995, Pope John Paul II traveled to Sri Lanka to canonize Joseph Vaz, an Indian-born priest and missionary.

Meenakshi Ganguly, the South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that given Sri Lanka’s long history of ethnic and religious violence, including a nearly three-decade civil war that only ended in 2009, it was premature to jump to conclusions about whether radicalized Muslims might have played a role in the attacks.

But the scale of the attacks and the death toll on Sunday were unprecedented even by Sri Lanka’s bloody standards, Ms. Ganguly said.

“In three decades of war, this scale of attack has never happened,” she said. “In terms of serious, religion-based violence, we haven’t really seen that.”

Image
The blast shattered windows and walls at the Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo.CreditM. A. Pushpa Kumara/EPA, via Shutterstock

Pope Francis, after celebrating Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, said, “I want to express my affectionate closeness to the Christian community, struck while it was gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence.”

He added, “I entrust to the Lord all those who were tragically killed.”

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, called the blasts “horrific” in a post on Twitter. “There is no place for such barbarism in our region,” he wrote. India is Sri Lanka’s closest neighbor and shares many cultural and economic ties with the island nation.

Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan said his country “stands in complete solidarity with Sri Lanka in their hour of grief.”

Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany were among the European leaders to express their grief. Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Union Commission, said that he had received news of the bombings “with horror and sadness.”

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey also wrote on Twitter that the attack had been “an assault on all of humanity.”

President Trump said on Twitter that the United States stood ready to help, though the tweet inflated the number of victims in a typo.

“Heartfelt condolences from the people of the United States to the people of Sri Lanka on the horrible terrorist attacks on churches and hotels,” he wrote, adding that the explosions had “killed at least 138 million people and badly injured 600 more.”

Image
Sri Lankan Special Task Force members during a raid on a house in a suburb of Colombo on Sunday.CreditIshara S. Kodikara/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, said that it was a surprise that the attackers had had the confidence to raid hotels in Sri Lanka, noting that the island’s hotels had tried to provide tight security during the island’s civil war and ever since.

“Hotels are on guard in Sri Lanka, so I’m surprised that three hotels still came under target,” he said.

Buddhist statues were defaced last year in Sri Lanka in what appears to have been an iconoclastic attack by Muslims, he said. In the Maldives, radical Muslims destroyed Buddhist archaeological finds in early 2012 at the country’s National Museum.

More explosions followed in Sunday afternoon, all in Colombo. The first was at the Tropical Inn, a small hotel not far from the national zoo in the suburb of Dehiwala. Two people were killed, officials said.

There was also at least one explosion at a housing complex in another suburb, Dematagoda, where, the defense minister said, three police officers were killed during an attempt to apprehend suspects.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/21/world/asia/sri-lanka-explosion.html

2019-04-21 12:55:12Z
52780273201173

Easter Sunday explosions at multiple churches and hotels rock Sri Lanka, death tolls rises past 200 - Fox News

More than 207 people died and hundreds more injured after six nearly simultaneous explosions struck three churches and three luxury hotels in and just outside of Sri Lanka’s capital on Easter Sunday. They were followed hours later by two more blasts.

An inside view of the St. Anthony's Shrine after an explosion hit St Anthony's Church in Kochchikade in Colombo, Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019. (Photo by Chamila Karunarathne/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

An inside view of the St. Anthony's Shrine after an explosion hit St Anthony's Church in Kochchikade in Colombo, Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019. (Photo by Chamila Karunarathne/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

A spokesperson for the Sri Lanka police said 207 people died and 450 injured in the series of blasts – marking the bloodshed as among the worst since the South Asian country’s 26-year civil war ended a decade ago.

Multiple fatalities – including nearly a dozen foreigners – resulted among worshipers and hotel guests. With a curfew imposed, police conducted a search operation on the outskirts of Colombo, where that the latest of eight blasts took place.

Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena described the attacks as a terrorist incident and blamed religious extremists. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the violence could trigger instability in the country and its economy.

The first explosion occurred around 8:45 a.m. local time, with the deadliest appearing to be at St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a city about 20 miles north of Colombo. Other attacks occurred at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo and Zion Church in the eastern city of Batticaloa. The three hotels – the Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury Hotel – all in Colombo are frequented by foreign tourists.

Sri Lankan Army soldiers secure the area around St. Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019 (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lankan Army soldiers secure the area around St. Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019 (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

The other two blasts occurred in Dematagoda, where the occupants of a safehouse apparently detonated explosives to prevent arrest.

An official told the Associated Press that at least two of the church blasts were believed to have been coordinated attack carried out by suicide bombers.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s blasts.

“The United States offers heartfelt condolences to the great people of Sri Lanka,” U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted in part early Sunday. “We stand ready to help!”

Photos from the scene showed extensive damage, along with blood and debris inside the targeted churches.

U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz offered her condolences over Twitter early Sunday.

"Deeply saddened by the senseless attacks in Sri Lanka today. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand with Sri Lanka’s people at this terrible moment," she tweeted.

SRI LANKA AVERTS RIFT SPILLING OVER TO UN RIGHTS SESSION

St. Sebastian's pleaded for help on its Facebook page. The explosion ripped the roof off the building and knocked out doors and windows. Churches throughout the country have been placed on alert, with many canceling Easter services.

Foreign tourists on the Classic Sri Lankan tour hurriedly took to their cellphones to text family and loved ones around the world that they were OK after the blasts.

The group was on a 15-day tour of the tropical island nation, seeing sites including huge Buddhist monuments, tea plantations, jungle eco-lodges and famed sandy beaches.

People gather outside St. Anthony's Shrine where a blast happened, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019. (Associated Press)

People gather outside St. Anthony's Shrine where a blast happened, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019. (Associated Press)

Sri Lankan Member of Parliament Harsha de Silva tweeted Sunday of "many casualties including foreigners."

"Sec Defence and I am at Kochchikade church. Also was at ShangriLa n Kingsbury. PM is on his way from Bentota. Emergency meeting called in a few minutes. Rescue operations underway. Please stay calm and indoors. Many casualties including foreigners," he posted.

"Horrible scenes. I saw many body parts strewn all over. Emergency crews are at all locations in full force. We, at 1990 also have close to 20 units at the various locations. We took multiple casualties to hospital. Hopefully saved many lives," he continued.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, called on Sri Lanka's government to launch a "very impartial strong inquiry" and to punish those found responsible "mercilessly because only animals can behave like that."

There was an outpouring of condemnation from around the world following the attacks.

Pope Francis denounced the "cruel violence" at the end of his traditional Easter Sunday blessing. 

Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Francis said: "I want to express my loving closeness to the Christian community, targeted while they were gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence."

He added: "I entrust to the Lord all those who were tragically killed and pray for the injured and all those who are suffering as a result of this dramatic event."

British Prime Minister Teresa May tweeted "We must stand together to make sure that no one should ever have to (practice) their faith in fear."

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned the "devastating" attacks, and referred to the March 15 shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch in which 50 died.

"New Zealand condemns all acts of terrorism and our resolve has only been strengthened by the attack on our soil," Ardern said. "New Zealand rejects all forms of extremism and stands for freedom of religion and the right to worship safely."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Sri Lankan security forces in 2009 defeated Tamil Tiger rebels who had fought to create an independent homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils. The U.N. initially estimated the death toll from 26 years of fighting to be about 100,000 but a U.N. experts' panel later said some 45,000 ethnic Tamils may have been killed in the last months of the fighting alone.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.foxnews.com/world/easter-sunday-explosions-at-multiple-churches-and-hotels-rock-sri-lanka-death-tolls-rises

2019-04-21 12:28:03Z
52780273201173

Easter Sunday explosions at multiple churches and hotels rock Sri Lanka, death tolls rises - Fox News

Nearly 200 people died and hundreds more injured after six nearly simultaneous explosions struck three churches and three luxury hotels in and just outside of Sri Lanka’s capital on Easter Sunday. They were followed hours later by two more blasts.

The country’s deputy transport minister told reporters that at least 190 people died in the series of blasts – marking the bloodshed as the worst since the South Asian country’s 26-year civil war ended a decade ago.

Multiple fatalities – including nearly a dozen foreigners – resulted among worshipers and hotel guests. With a curfew imposed, police conducted a search operation on the outskirts of Colombo, where that the latest of eight blasts took place.

Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena described the attacks as a terrorist incident and blamed religious extremists. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the violence could trigger instability in the country and its economy.

The first explosion occurred around 8:45 a.m. local time, with the deadliest appearing to be at St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a city about 20 miles north of Colombo. Other attacks occurred at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo and Zion Church in the eastern city of Batticaloa. The three hotels – the Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury Hotel – all in Colombo are frequented by foreign tourists.

Sri Lankan Army soldiers secure the area around St. Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019 (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Sri Lankan Army soldiers secure the area around St. Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019 (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

The other two blasts occurred in Dematagoda, where the occupants of a safehouse apparently detonated explosives to prevent arrest.

An official told the Associated Press that at least two of the church blasts were believed to have been coordinated attack carried out by suicide bombers.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sunday’s blasts.

“The United States offers heartfelt condolences to the great people of Sri Lanka,” U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted in part early Sunday. “We stand ready to help!”

Photos from the scene showed extensive damage, along with blood and debris inside the targeted churches.

U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz offered her condolences over Twitter early Sunday.

"Deeply saddened by the senseless attacks in Sri Lanka today. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families. We stand with Sri Lanka’s people at this terrible moment," she tweeted.

SRI LANKA AVERTS RIFT SPILLING OVER TO UN RIGHTS SESSION

St. Sebastian's pleaded for help on its Facebook page. The explosion ripped the roof off the building and knocked out doors and windows. Churches throughout the country have been placed on alert, with many canceling Easter services.

Foreign tourists on the Classic Sri Lankan tour hurriedly took to their cellphones to text family and loved ones around the world that they were OK after the blasts.

The group was on a 15-day tour of the tropical island nation, seeing sites including huge Buddhist monuments, tea plantations, jungle eco-lodges and famed sandy beaches.

People gather outside St. Anthony's Shrine where a blast happened, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019. (Associated Press)

People gather outside St. Anthony's Shrine where a blast happened, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 21, 2019. (Associated Press)

Sri Lankan Member of Parliament Harsha de Silva tweeted Sunday of "many casualties including foreigners."

"Sec Defence and I am at Kochchikade church. Also was at ShangriLa n Kingsbury. PM is on his way from Bentota. Emergency meeting called in a few minutes. Rescue operations underway. Please stay calm and indoors. Many casualties including foreigners," he posted.

"Horrible scenes. I saw many body parts strewn all over. Emergency crews are at all locations in full force. We, at 1990 also have close to 20 units at the various locations. We took multiple casualties to hospital. Hopefully saved many lives," he continued.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, called on Sri Lanka's government to launch a "very impartial strong inquiry" and to punish those found responsible "mercilessly because only animals can behave like that."

There was an outpouring of condemnation from around the world following the attacks.

Pope Francis denounced the "cruel violence" at the end of his traditional Easter Sunday blessing. 

Speaking from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, Francis said: "I want to express my loving closeness to the Christian community, targeted while they were gathered in prayer, and all the victims of such cruel violence."

He added: "I entrust to the Lord all those who were tragically killed and pray for the injured and all those who are suffering as a result of this dramatic event."

British Prime Minister Teresa May tweeted "We must stand together to make sure that no one should ever have to (practice) their faith in fear."

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned the "devastating" attacks, and referred to the March 15 shootings at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch in which 50 died.

"New Zealand condemns all acts of terrorism and our resolve has only been strengthened by the attack on our soil," Ardern said. "New Zealand rejects all forms of extremism and stands for freedom of religion and the right to worship safely."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Sri Lankan security forces in 2009 defeated Tamil Tiger rebels who had fought to create an independent homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils. The U.N. initially estimated the death toll from 26 years of fighting to be about 100,000 but a U.N. experts' panel later said some 45,000 ethnic Tamils may have been killed in the last months of the fighting alone.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.foxnews.com/world/easter-sunday-explosions-at-multiple-churches-and-hotels-rock-sri-lanka-death-tolls-rises

2019-04-21 12:14:14Z
52780273201173