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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Sri Lanka Catholic schools to reopen after attacks

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Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church on Thursday announced it will reopen its schools next week for the first time since Easter Sunday bombings killed 258 people.


Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said the schools would open on Tuesday after remaining shut following fears of a repeat of the April 21 attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels.


“We have decided to open all Catholic schools on May 14,” Ranjith told reporters in Colombo following a meeting between the country’s 12 bishops and President Maithripala Sirisena in Colombo on Thursday.


All state-run schools — more than 10,000 in total — had resumed classes on Monday after police and security forces deployed armed guards.


But attendance has been low despite a raft of new security measures, including parking restrictions near schools.


Ranjith also said regular Sunday services would resume at all Catholic churches in Colombo from Sunday while a special service will be held on Thursday at Negombo, north of the capital.


St Sebastian’s church in Negombo where over 100 people were killed will hold an open mass on Thursday evening, for the first time since the attack, Ranjith said.


The government has blamed a local group, the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ), for the bombings that also wounded nearly 500 people.


— AFP


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