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EASTER HORROR: Lanka reels from deadly blasts

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COLOMBO: Over 200 people, including 35 foreigners, were killed and at least 450 injured in bomb blasts that ripped through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, the first major attack on the Indian Ocean island since the end of a civil war 10 years ago.


Eight people were arrested and three police officers were killed during a security forces raid on a house in the Sri Lankan capital several hours after the rash of attacks, some of which officials said were suicide bombs.


The government declared a curfew in Colombo and blocked access to social media and messaging sites, including Facebook and WhatsApp. It was unclear when the curfew would be lifted.


“Altogether, we have information of 207 dead from all hospitals. According to the information as of now we have 450 injured people admitted to hospitals,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told reporters.


Three churches in various parts of the country and four hotels in Colombo were hit. At least 27 of the dead were foreigners, including people from Turkey, China, India, Holland and US, officials and media reports said.


There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks in a country which was at war for decades with Tamil separatists until 2009, a time when bomb blasts in the capital were common.


Dozens were killed in one of the blasts at St Sebastian’s Gothic-style Catholic church in Katuwapitiya, north of Colombo. Gunasekera said the police suspected a suicide attack there. Pictures from the site showed bodies on the ground, blood on the church pews and a destroyed roof.


Local media reported 25 people were also killed in an attack on an evangelical church in Batticaloa in Eastern Province.


A relative of a victim of the explosion reacts at the police mortuary in Colombo on Sunday. — Reuters[/caption]

MILITARY DEPLOYED


The hotels hit in Colombo were the Shangri-La, the Kingsbury, the Cinnamon Grand and the Tropical Inn near the national zoo. There was no word on casualties in the hotels, but a witness told local TV he saw some body parts, including a severed head, lying on the ground beside the Tropical Inn.


The first six explosions were all reported within a short period in the morning just as church services were starting.


One of the explosions was at St Anthony’s Shrine, a Catholic church in Kochcikade, Colombo, a tourist landmark.


The explosion at the Tropical Inn happened later and there was an eighth explosion at a house in Colombo. Police and media said that three officers were killed and eight people detained during a raid on this location. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe called a national security council meeting at his home for later in the day.


“I strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today. I call upon all Sri Lankans during this tragic time to remain united and strong,” he said in a Tweet.


“Please avoid propagating unverified reports and speculation. The government is taking immediate steps to contain this situation.” President Maithripala Sirisena said he had ordered the police special task force and military to investigate who was behind the attacks and their agenda.


The military was deployed, a military spokesman said, and security stepped up at Colombo’s international airport.


ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS


Last year, there were 86 verified incidents of discrimination, threats and violence against Christians, according to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), which represents more than 200 churches and other Christian organisations.


This year, the NCEASL recorded 26 such incidents, including one in which Buddhist monks allegedly attempted to disrupt a Sunday worship service, with the last one reported on March 25.


Out of Sri Lanka’s total population of around 22 million, 70 per cent are Buddhist, 12.6 per cent Hindu, 9.7 per cent Muslim and 7.6 per cent Christian, according to the country’s 2012 census. In its 2018 report on Sri Lanka’s human rights, the US State Department noted that some Christian groups and churches reported they had been pressured to end worship meetings after authorities classified them as “unauthorised gatherings”. — Reuters


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