The tragedy of Good Friday returned on Easter Sunday when death suddenly struck scores of Christians celebrating the Festival of Life, yesterday.
Our condolences and continuing compassion must be extended to those whose loved ones were snatched away or injured, in places considered safe. Our sorrow and compassion should also specially encircle the families of all those visitors to our country who were killed and injured. We are deeply sorry at your loss in our land of hospitality.
Work for the people
The abrupt termination of Easter Day services on the advice of the police, was a strong reminder that our work is not yet finished. The solemn rising of the people to move out in their twos and threes, somewhat symbolized that this unfinished work now lies with the people of our country.
Bankrupt legislators
This is because our legislators are no longer able to steer our common destiny with responsibility. Most are simply unable to anticipate conflict and work for the common good; they have been immersed in self-interest for too long. Few can offer empathy to the victims of these crimes and even fewer have the ability to call the nation to engage in introspection, the need of the hour. The predictably emerging blame game, along with the typical public exploitation of human suffering, is ample evidence of this bankruptcy.
The potential of the people
The spontaneous response of medical and para-medical personnel, the police and armed forces and general public, in assisting the injured and the dying, is to be commended. This behaviour is a sacred sign of the immense potential our people have, to cross boundaries and heal wounds. It also indicates that we reach our highest human stature when we move beyond the invasion of political party agendas. We are to consequently prevent legislators from stealing our integrity to further their devious ends, in our work of nation building.
A day of national mourning and reflection
These heinous crimes must be condemned in the name of our common humanity. But, with the condemnation, we are to counter the intentions of the perpetrators who seek blood for blood. The declaration of a day of national mourning, and reflection, will help us rise to this task. If on this day people of diverse religious and secular persuasions will publicly gather to demonstrate solidarity with the grieved and ask what went wrong, our actions will be stronger than the intentions of the perpetrators.
If out of this crisis we will even now, read the signs of the times and come together to form continuing people’s movements to build social trust and assert dialogue as the best method of resolving our differences, we will then rise to a new life out of the ashes of the Easter Sunday bombings.
One of the suicide bombers, who carried out the Easter Sunday attacks, had been released from police custody a few months back due to pressure from a powerful politician, Minister Kabir Hashim revealed, yesterday.
Fielding questions, Petroleum Resource Development Minister Kabir Hashim told The Island that following some incidents in the Mawanella area, Intelligence had unearthed cache of explosives at Lacktowatta in Wanathawilluwa, Puttalam. During the raid two key suspects were captured. However, due to the intervention of a powerful politician, they had been released and one of them had been involved in Sunday’s attacks, the Minister said.
In January, the CID obtained a three-month detention order from the Defence Secretary to interrogate those arrested with some 100 kilos of explosives and 100 detonators in Wanathawilluwa.
The suspects, including the owner of the land where some of the explosives were found buried, were arrested by the CID.
The CID also recovered 20 litres of nitrate acid, fuse wire, two firearms, a stock of ammunition, a computer, a camera and a stock of dry rations.
Minister Hashim said his secretary had been shot by the extremists in retaliation for the police raid on their hideout.
This haul of explosives was recovered following investigations carried out on the telephone numbers found in a mobile phone of a suspect arrested over the incident where Buddha statutes were vandalised at Mawanella in January.
Minister Rajitha Senaratne, yesterday, said that international intelligence agencies had warned the government, on April 04, of an impending attack in the country.
He told a media briefing at Temple Trees, that the Chief of National Intelligence had warned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the attacks before April 11. “We are waiting for the President to remove the IGP,” he added.
Hashim also said that the Prime Minister and the State Minister of Defence had not been invited to National Security Council (NDC) meetings since December last year.
Minister Senaratne claimed that the NSC had not complied with a request for a meeting with the Prime Minister on Sunday morning.
Commenting on Sunday’s attacks, Hashim said that a local organisation identified as the National Tawheed Jamath was suspected of plotting Sunday’s explosions. He added that all suicide bombers were believed to be Sri Lankans. “We are conducting investigations to find out whether there have been any foreign links.”
Fox News host Jesse Watters went off on those referring to victims of the Sri Lanka bombings as Easter worshippers,” accusing them of making up a term in order to pander to Muslims.
Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, faced a backlash from conservatives for using the term Easter worshippers” in their initial responses to the attacks.
Look at some of the leading Democrats, how they characterized it,” Watters said on The Five Monday. They didn’t use ‘Christians.’ They didn’t say ‘a lot of churches.’ They actually said ‘Easter worshipers were under attack.’ You don’t call Muslims ‘Ramadan worshipers.’ You don’t call Jews ‘Passover worshipers.’ It’s a made-up phrase.”
Watters continued: Why did they make up phrases like this? This is one of the reasons why people don’t trust liberals because they are not in touch with reality. They do this because they are pandering to Muslims. Because a lot of liberals feel they are so upset with how other people think about them and if they are thought up to be insensitive, that drives them crazy.”
It’s worth noting that Easter is an exclusively Christian holiday, so it’s unclear why using the term Easter worshippers” does much to obscure the faith of the victims. What’s more, the phrase is not made up – the same formulation has been used on the air at… Fox News
Daniel Linsey, 19 and his sister Amelie, 15, escaped death in the dining room of the Shangri-La Hotel but died moments later when a second bomber struck
More than 300 people were killed in Easter Sunday’s eight coordinated attacks
Lawyer Ben Nicholson confirmed his wife and two children died in one blast
The island nation remains on lockdown and police have found more explosives
A British teenage brother and sister escaped one of the Sri Lankan terror blasts only to be killed by a second, it was revealed last night.
Daniel Linsey, 19 and his younger sister Amelie, 15, were having breakfast with their father Matthew at the luxury Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo before their flight home.
The teenagers somehow survived when a suicide bomb was detonated among the diners, including many tourists. But they died moments later when a second bomber struck as they tried to escape the carnage.
They are among almost 300 people massacred – including six more Britons – after suicide bombers cut down tourists and Easter Sunday mass worshippers, including dozens of children.
Amelie Linsey, 15, left, and brother Daniel, 19, right, were in the dining room of the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo when a bomber struck but escaped, only to be killed moments later by a second terrorist’s blast
Last night, the island was under a state of emergency after the explosions. In other developments:
British father Ben Nicholson confirmed he had lost his whole family in the attacks. His wife Anita, 42 and their children Alex, 14, and Annabel, 11, were killed as they ate breakfast;
Asos billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen lost three of his four children in the attack while on holiday with his wife;
Senior Sri Lankan officials were repeatedly warned for three years that an attack would happen – but nothing was done because of political infighting;
Fears were growing that more explosives are on the streets after police found 87 detonators and a pipe bomb filled with 110lb of explosives – big enough to cause a 400-yard blast radius;
A video emerged of alleged ringleader Moulvi Zahran Hashim issuing threats against ‘infidels’ with a Union Jack in the background.
Devastated Mr Linsey, 61, an American city fund manager, returned to the family home in central London, yesterday to be with his British wife Angelina and his other two sons – aged 12 and 21 – who were not on the holiday.
David Linsey, 21, told the Mail the family were on the last day of their Easter break: ‘They were due to fly home that day and had been having breakfast when the first bomb went off.
Amelie Linsey on a recent trip to Vietnam. She was killed, aged 15, in the Easter Sunday terror attack in Sri Lanka which claimed 300 lives including eight Britons
Londoner Matthew Linsey, pictured several years ago with his children Daniel and Amelie, both of whom were murdered on Easter Sunday
‘My dad said they were all caught up in a second explosion as they tried to escape. Both my brother and sister were instantly unconscious and were taken to hospital but they never woke up. My dad is shocked and has not said much apart from that. He is trying to be strong for my little brother who is 12 and my mum.’
Mr Linsey was said to have had suffered shrapnel wounds to his face and was yesterday being comforted by relatives at the family home. Oxford student David described how his father initially hoped Amelie had survived the impact of the blast as she had no major visible injuries.
‘At first they didn’t think Amelie was injured badly as there were no obvious wounds. Someone else took her to hospital but she must have had internal injuries.
‘I think they both died instantly as they never woke up. We cannot believe this has happened. I can’t describe just how devastating it is. You don’t think it will happen to you. We miss them so much already,’ he said. The devastated brother said the family has decided not to watch the news and were not ready to hear emerging questions about security blunders which could have prevented the deadly attacks.
He said the three had been on a trip of life time touring Asia over the Easter period and had travelled to Vietnam before arriving in Sri Lanka just days before the tragedy. He said: ‘They were really excited about it. It was supposed to be a nice Easter break and for them to spend time with my dad.
Ben Nicholson lost his wife Anita, 42 and their children Alex, 14, and Annabel, 11, who were killed as they ate breakfast
‘Daniel had always wanted to go to Sri Lanka and they had been to see the elephants.’
He said his brother, who was due to complete his A-levels, ‘loved travelling’ and planned to go to university to study tourism.
While Amelie, who was a pupil at the independent Godolphin and Latymer School, was said to have ‘loved looking after the family’ despite her young age. He said: ‘My sister was so loving, she was the centre of the family and kept us all together and my brother was one of the kindest people you could imagine.’
The siblings are among 291 people killed in the atrocities which have injured more than 500.
Many visitors have already left Sri Lanka, a popular holiday destination for Britons and other Western tourists. Shops and restaurants pulled down their shutters and cars stayed off usually busy roads as the government imposed a strict curfew.
Social media sites were shut down to avoid locals spreading panic with unfounded rumours.
A blood-spattered statue of Jesus Christ is pictured while crime scene officials inspect the site of a bomb blast, as the sun shines through the blown-out roof, inside St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo
Sri Lankan military stand guard near the explosion site at a church in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Hospital staff push a trolley with a casualty after an explosion at a church in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
State minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardene said investigators have identified the culprits behind the ‘terrorist’ attacks (pictuerd: Shangri La hotel, Colombo)
The police and the military were also granted draconian powers by Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders. Chaos unfolded on the morning of Easter Sunday when coordinated blasts ripped through churches and luxury hotels carried out by seven suicide bombers from a militant group called National Thowheed Jamaath.
Two of the bombers blew themselves up at the Shangri-La Hotel on Colombo’s seafront. Others targeted three churches and two hotels. Footage of a bomber wearing a backpack wandering around a church moments before detonation emerged yesterday.
A fourth hotel and a house in a suburb of Colombo were also hit, but it was not immediately clear how those attacks were carried out.
A large bomb defused late on Sunday on an access road to the international airport, and another blew up in a van before it could experts could carry out a controlled explosion. Three police officers were killed by two suicide bombers who detonated their vests when their house was raided. One bomber was a woman who was married to one of the Shangri-La Hotel attackers.
Officials said nine suspects were remanded in custody yesterday – seven Muslims, one of Sinhalese background and one Tamil. Two women died in an explosion at a safe house linked to the unnamed suicide bomber who died at the Shangri-La Hotel. They are believed to be his wife and sister.
Julian Emmanuel, 48, an NHS doctor from Surrey, was in the Cinammon Grand hotel with his family and was in bed when a blast ripped through its restaurant. He said: ‘We saw someone who had an almost severed arm – there were shocked children covered in dust. It was all very traumatising. We will never forget this.’
An Australian survivor of the attack, identified only as Sam, described the scene as ‘absolute carnage’. He said he and a travel partner were having breakfast at the Shangri-La when two blasts went off. He said he had seen two men wearing backpacks seconds before the blasts.
Security forces inspect the St. Anthony’s Shrine after an explosion hit St Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade in Colombo
A map showing where the eight blasts went off , six of them in very quick succession on Easter Sunday morning
‘There were people screaming and dead bodies all around,’ he said. ‘Kids crying, kids on the ground, I don’t know if they were dead or not, just crazy.’ Doctors said the Islamic State-inspired terrorists filled the bombs with ball bearings and other pieces of metal to cause maximum damage.
Some victims suffered such horrific injuries that identifying their bodies could take some time.
Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said an international network was involved, but did not elaborate. Defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene said those responsible for the atrocities were religious extremists, but no group has yet claimed responsibility. The bombings represent the deadliest violence in Sri Lanka since a devastating civil war ended a decade ago on the island.
The Queen joined world leaders in offering her condolences in the wake of the terror attack, and paid tribute to the medical and emergency services helping out.
Scotland Yard said it is ‘continually monitoring’ the threats Britain faces, including to places of worship. The FBI and Interpol are assisting the investigation.
The Sri Lankan government has admitted it failed to act on multiple warnings before a coordinated series of attacks ripped through churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, and said it feared an international terror group might have been behind the atrocities.
A government spokesman, Rajitha Senaratne, revealed that warnings were received in the days before the attacks, which killed 290 people and injured at least 500 more, including from foreign intelligence services.
He said one of the warnings they received referred to Nations Thawahid Jaman (NTJ), a little-known local Islamist group which has previously defaced Buddhist statues. But Senaratne, who is also health minister, said he did not believe a local group could have acted alone. There must be a wider international network behind it,” he said.
A US official directly familiar with the US initial intelligence assessment said the group responsible for the attacks was likely to have been inspired by ISIS. No group has yet claimed responsibility.
The security situation remained fluid on Monday. Police found 87 detonators in a private terminal of the main bus station in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, and a controlled explosion was carried out on a van near St. Anthony’s church, one of three churches targeted in the attack. On Sunday evening, an improvised explosive device (IED) was defused near the capital’s Bandaranaike International Airport.
With the situation in flux, a dusk-til-dawn curfew was imposed for the second night in a row. Sri Lankan authorities declared a state of emergency from midnight Monday and said Tuesday would be a national day of mourning.
Intelligence failures would be investigated, Senaratne said. We saw the warnings and we saw the details given,” he told reporters at a press conference. We are very very sorry, as a government we have to say — we have to apologize to the families and the institutions about this incident.” Police have arrested 24 people in connection with the suicide attacks, the worst violence the South Asian island has seen since its bloody civil war ended 10 years ago. A total of six suicide bombers were involved, Sri Lanka military spokesman Sumith Atapattu told CNN.
Most of the dead and injured were Sri Lankan. At least 39 tourists were killed and 28 injured, the country’s tourism minister said.
Of the foreign nationals who died, four were US citizens, eight were British, two of whom held dual US-UK nationality; as well as three Indians, two Australians, two Chinese cousins, one person from the Netherlands, two Turkish citizens and one Portuguese national. The blasts appear to have targeted tourism hotspots, as well as churches, in an effort to gain maximum global attention.
The attacks occurred in a period of political instability in Sri Lanka. In October, the Sri Lankan President attempted to depose the Prime Minister and replace him with a favored successor. That move backfired and the Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was reinstated in December.
The President, Maithripala Sirisena, was out of the country at the time of Sunday’s attacks.
Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said warnings about a potential attack had not been shared with him or other government ministers. Sajith Premadasa, minister of housing construction and cultural affairs, said security officers were guilty of negligence and incompetence.”
It is unclear whether the details contained in the warning matched the atrocity that eventually took place on Sunday.
Little is known about the NTJ, the Islamist extremist organization that has been linked to the atrocities. There were doubts that it would have had the capacity to carry out such a sophisticated and coordinated attack alone. Transnational Islamists are known to operate in places like Pakistan, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
The intelligence services in the country are not integrated, says Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake.
He stated this addressing the media at the Catholic Archbishop’s House this morning (22).
The Army Chief called on His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith to discuss the Easter Day attacks that took place yesterday (21) and the situation prevailing in the country.
He stated that proper communication links should be established among all intelligence services in the country.
The police were informed of the intelligence report on the possible attacks, however, such information was not shared with the Army, Lieutenant General Senanayake stated.
The organization that is responsible for the attacks has been identified as of now and they are internationally backed, he further commented.
The Army Chief said that a request was made to confer the authority on the Army to take necessary actions to prevent such criminal acts.
Colombo, April 22 (newsin.asia): As of Monday April 22, 2019 7.00 pm, the number of foreign nationals who have been identified as killed is 31.
The fatalities are: one from Bangladesh; two from China, eight from India, one from France, one from Japan, one from The Netherlands, one from Portugal, two from Saudi Arabia, one from Spain, two from Turkey, six from the UK, two holding US and UK nationalities, and two holding Australian and Sri Lankan nationalities.
Additionally, 14 foreign nationals are unaccounted for at present, and could be among the unidentified victims at the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer’s mortuary.
Seventeen foreign nationals injured in the attacks are receiving treatment at the Colombo National Hospital and a private hospital in Colombo while others have been treated and discharged.
The Foreign Ministry continues to be in close contact with the relevant hospital authorities to identify the remaining victims. The Ministry will continue to monitor the welfare of the foreign nationals receiving treatment.
An emergency hotline to assist families of the affected foreign nationals is operational at +94 112323015
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but suspicion was focusing on Islamist militants in the Buddhist-majority country
COLOMBO, April 22 (Reuters) – Sri Lanka said on Monday it was invoking emergency powers in the aftermath of devastating bomb attacks on hotels and churches, blamed on militants with foreign links, in which 290 people were killed and nearly 500 wounded.
The emergency law, which gives police and the military extensive powers to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders, will go into effect at midnight on Monday, the president’s office said.
Colombo, the seaside capital of the Indian Ocean island, was jittery on Monday. Police said 87 bomb detonators were found at the city’s main bus station, while an explosive went off near a church where scores were killed on Sunday when bomb squad officials were trying to defuse it.
A night curfew will go into effect at 8 p.m., the government announced.
There was no claim of responsibility for the attack but suspicion was focusing on Islamist militants in the Buddhist-majority country.
Investigators said seven suicide bombers took part in the attacks while a government spokesman said an international network was involved.
Police had received a tip-off of a possible attack on churches by a little-known domestic Islamist group some 10 days ago, according to a document seen by Reuters.
The intelligence report, dated April 11 and seen by Reuters, said a foreign intelligence agency had warned authorities of possible attacks on churches by the leader of the group, the National Thawheed Jama’ut. It was not immediately clear what action, if any, was taken on the tip-off.
Police said 24 people had been arrested, all of whom were Sri Lankan, but they gave no more details.
International anti-terrorism experts said even if a local group had carried out the attacks, it was likely that al Qaeda or Islamic State were involved, given the level of sophistication.
Two of the suicide bombers blew themselves up at the luxury Shangri-La Hotel on Colombo’s seafront, said Ariyananda Welianga, a senior official at the government’s forensic division. The others targeted three churches and two other hotels.
A fourth hotel and a house in a suburb of the capital Colombo were also hit, but it was not immediately clear how those attacks were carried out.
“Still the investigations are going on,” Welianga said.
Most of the attacks came during Easter services and when hotel guests were sitting down for breakfast buffets.
“Guests who had come for breakfast were lying on the floor, blood all over,” an employee at Kingsbury Hotel told Reuters.
Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said an international network was involved, but did not elaborate.
“We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country,” Senaratne said. “There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.”
The president, Maithripala Sirisena, said in a statement the government would seek foreign assistance to track the overseas links.
Sri Lanka was at war for decades with ethnic minority Tamil separatists, most of them Hindu, but violence had largely ended since the government victory in the civil war, 10 years ago.
Sri Lanka’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus.
FOREIGN VICTIMS
Most of the dead and wounded were Sri Lankans although government officials said 32 foreigners were killed, including British, U.S., Australian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals.
Denmark’s richest man Anders Holch Povlsen and his wife lost three of their four children in the attacks, a spokesman for his fashion firm said.
A British mother and son at breakfast at the Shangri-La, British media reported, while five Indian political workers were killed at the same hotel, relatives told Indian media.
The hotel said several guests and three employees were killed.
The U.S. State Department said in a travel advisory “terrorist groups” were plotting possible attacks in Sri Lanka and targets could include tourist spots, transport hubs, shopping malls, hotels, places of worship and airports.
There were fears the attacks could spark communal violence, with police reporting late on Sunday there had been a petrol bomb attack on a mosque in the northwest and arson attacks on two shops owned by Muslims in the west.
BOMB FOUND NEAR AIRPORT
Traffic was uncharacteristically thin in normally bustling Colombo after an island-wide curfew was lifted earlier Monday.
Soldiers with automatic weapons stood guard outside major hotels and the World Trade Centre in the business district, a Reuters witness said.
An Australian survivor, identified only as Sam, told Australia’s 3AW radio the hotel was a scene of “absolute carnage”.
He said he and a travel partner were having breakfast at the Shangri-La when two blasts went off. He said he had seen two men wearing backpacks seconds before the blasts.
“There were people screaming and dead bodies all around,” he said. “Kids crying, kids on the ground, I don’t know if they were dead or not, just crazy.”
There were similar scenes of carnage at two churches in or near Colombo, and a third church in the northeast town of Batticaloa, where worshippers had gathered. Pictures showed bodies on the ground and blood-spattered pews and statues.
Dozens were killed in a blast at the Gothic-style St Sebastian church in Katuwapitiya, north of Colombo. Police said they suspected it was a suicide attack.
Questions over why the intelligence report warning was not acted upon could feed into a feud between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the president.
Sirisena fired the premier last year and installed opposition strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa in his stead. Weeks later, he was forced to re-instate Wickremesinghe because of pressure from the Supreme Court but their relationship is still fraught as a presidential election nears.
(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal Writing by Paul Tait and Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel)
Sri Lankan security forces secure the area around St Anthony’s Shrine, one of the churches targeted in multiple suicide bombings on Easter Sunday. Photograph: Getty Images
Sri Lankan officials have blamed a small local group called National Thowheeth Jama’ath for the bomb attacks on Sunday. It is unclear whether this assertion is based on new information discovered by investigators since the atrocity or a notice circulated by Sri Lankan police 10 days before the blasts, which said the group was planning suicide attacks against churches.
There is a similarly named Islamist organisation active on the island nation – the Sri Lanka Thowheeth Jama’ath. It is unclear if this group is the one referred to by the warning, which was based on information passed to Sri Lankan authorities by a foreign intelligence service, believed to be either India’s or the US’s.
The SLTJ is small, based in the east of Sri Lanka, and has been involved in extremist rhetoric as well as being linked to acts of vandalism against Buddhist statues. Its name describes a movement for the unity of God, a favourite label adopted by Islamist militants and a key concept in conservative strands of Islam.
Analysts point out multiple suicide bombings of six or possibly more targets require a significant logistical operation and months of planning. Such attackers may detonate their devices alone, but need careful management by handlers to keep them committed in the days and weeks before. Large quantities of military-grade explosives would also have been necessary, as well as safe houses and bomb-making workshops.
The targets – churches and luxury hotels in high-profile locations – are familiar from many previous attacks by Islamist extremists in south Asia and beyond. Though western attention has been diverted by violence closer to home, the region has had a high level of religiously motivated terrorism for decades. There has also been a surge in Hindu and Buddhist extremism in recent years.
Islamist militant attacks have largely been the work of local groups rather than major international organisations such as Islamic State and al-Qaida, despite the continuing efforts of both to expand in the arc between Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Each group has built links with local factions and individuals, working through what are effectively subcontractors”.
Sometimes the links have been more direct, however. At its peak, Isis successfully attracted a very significant number of recruits from the Maldives, the islands close to Sri Lanka, with which there are strong transport and commercial links.
From descriptions by witnesses, it appears likely the attackers were young local men. This would fit a longstanding rule that almost all terrorist attacks anywhere in the world primarily involve people living near or even brought up close to their targets.
Much of the focus is also now on the failure of the Sri Lankan security agencies. A key factor here is the degree to which different branches and factions within the police, intelligence and military are aligned with various politicians and political parties.
The telecommunications minister, Harin Fernando, gave an unwitting example of how politicised the vision of decision-makers can be. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, Fernando, who on Sunday night tweeted images of the memo from the Sri Lankan intelligence services dated 11 April, which laid out details of a possible planned attack, said the government also had not ruled out an attempted coup.
There are so many ways we could look at this, but right now our biggest priority would be to find what really led these eight or 10 or 12 men to carry out this attack,” he said. But we are not ruling out a coup as well.”
The police today informed Colombo Chef Magistrate’s Court that the suicide bomber of the Shangri-La hotel had been identified as Insan Seelavan and owned a factory in Avissawella- Wellampitiya road.
Nine employees of the said factory were arrested by the Wellampitiya Police and were remanded till May 6 after being produced in the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court.
The Police also informed the court that the suicide bomber was suspected to have links with other suicide killers died in the Dematagoda blast. (
The death toll for the Easter Sunday terror attacks has risen to 290 by Monday morning with 500 have been injured, Police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said.
He said 24 suspects are currently in the CID custody.
Colombo, April 22 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lanka’s National Security Council has announced that a conditional state of emergency will be declared from tonight, midnight, following the deadly attacks which ripped through Sri Lanka on Sunday.
The Sri Lanka government said they will also re-impose an islandwide night-time police curfew starting from 8.00pm Monday till 4.00am Tuesday.
A curfew was imposed on Sunday afternoon following the bombings in Sri Lanka which has so far killed 290 people. The curfew was lifted at dawn on Monday.
Meanwhile Health Minister, Rajitha Senaratnne said that the local Thawheed Jamaat was behind the deadly blasts and investigations were ongoing to see if they had any foreign links.
Colombo, April 22 (newsin.asia) – Another minor explosion was reported from Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo a short while ago when the bomb disposal squad tried to detonate a bomb which was found inside an abandoned vehicle.
The vehicle had been parked close to the church in Kochikade where a massive bomb exploded on Sunday causing many casualties.So far no injuries have been reported.
Meanwhile, the police also discovered 87 low explosives detonators at Colombo’s main bus stations in Pettah during special search operations. Police said that the explosives had been left abandoned.
Colombo, April 22 (newsin.asia): The Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday appointed a three-man committee to go into Easter Sunday’s multiple blasts in Colombo, Negombo, and Batticaloa, and report back to him in two weeks’ time.
The members of the committee include Sri Lankan Supreme Court justice Vijith Malalgoda, form Inspector General of police N.k.Illangakoon.
The blasts in eight places took the lives of 290 persons, including, 36 foreign nationals, and left 500 injured.
The junior Minister of Defense Ruwan Wikewardene said that 24 persons have been arrested so far for questioning.
The police have a curfew from 8 pm on Monday to 4 am on Tuesday.
207 people died, including five Britons, and 450 were injured in Sri Lankan blasts
13 suspects were arrested but no nation or group has claimed responsibility
The attack bears the hallmarks of IS: explicitly targeting civilians, designed to cause maximum terror and bloodshed, and perpetrated on a Christian holiday
After living through a bloody civil war that dragged on for three decades, the people of Sri Lanka are no strangers to terror.
But the carnage that unfolded yesterday saw the country’s enemies take on new depths of depravity.
It had all the hallmarks of the barbaric Islamic State group – executed meticulously and without mercy.
Within minutes of yesterday’s blasts, MI5 was trying to establish if there were any British links to those who could be behind the plot. There were no immediate claims of responsibility, nor any established motive for the attack, although 13 suspects had been arrested by last night.
Early evidence pointed to the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), a relatively unknown radical Islamist group said to have formed in Kattankudy, a Muslim-dominated town in eastern Sri Lanka, in 2014.
Alex and Anita Nicholson photographed in London in 2015. Both were killed in the bomb blast in the Shangri-La hotel
Last photo: Shantha Mayadunne (second left) and her daughter Nisanga (right) were among the victims of the Sri Lanka bomb attacks on Sunday. The family posted this picture of their Easter breakfast at the Shangri-La hotel just before the blast there
A map showing where the eight blasts went off today, six of them in very quick succession on Easter Sunday morning
ISIS militants marching in Raqqa, Syria, in 2014. This year the fundamentalists were driven from the last land they occupied but security experts have warned of ‘pop up’ terror cells
Six-foot pipe bomb is found at Sri Lanka’s main airport…Pictured: British lawyer mother and her son killed in Easter…
It has no history of mass fatality attacks.
In fact, its only mention appears to be last year when it was linked to the vandalism of Buddhist statues.
Sources in the Muslim community in Sri Lanka claim the group has publicly supported Islamic State. They also say that Zahran Hashim, named in reports as one of the bombers, was its founder.
Although intelligence files on the group are small, there is no doubt the warning signs were there.
On April 11, Sri Lankan police circulated a document entitled ‘Information of an alleged plan attack’ which said they had been warned by an unnamed foreign intelligence agency that the NTJ was plotting suicide attacks on churches in Colombo.
It added that intelligence pointed to any of the following methods: suicide attack, weapon attack or truck attack.
The original warning is most likely to have come from Australia – one of the ‘five eyes’ with a close intelligence-sharing relationship with Britain – that has kept watch on the rise of extremism in the region.
Documents show that Sri Lanka’s police chief Pujuth Jayasundara then issued an intelligence alert to top officers, specifically warning that suicide bombers planned to hit ‘prominent churches’.
Sri Lanka’s defence ministry has now ordered curfew with immediate effect ‘until further notice’, and the Sri Lankan government said it had shut down access to social media messaging services, sources say
Hospital staff push a trolley with a casualty after an explosion at a church in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
A crime scene official inspects the site of a bomb blast inside a church in Negombo, Sri Lanka, which lost half its roof tiles with the force of the blast
Documents even named six individuals as likely suicide bombers, including Hashim. Yesterday, the seemingly far-fetched plan became frighteningly real.
Why the police did not sound the alarm earlier will remain a mystery. Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe admitted that information about the attacks had been received in advance but denied having direct knowledge himself. ‘We must look into why adequate precautions were not taken. Neither I nor the ministers were kept informed,’ he said following intense anger in the community.
Whichever group was behind yesterday’s attack, it was most certainly inspired by the tactics used by IS. The suicide bombings explicitly targeted civilians, designed to create maximum terror for maximum effect – like the Manchester Arena bombings and the London Bridge attack.
They also chose iconic locations packed full of people, including many foreigners.
IS – which lost its final sliver of territory in Syria just weeks ago – also has a history of staging attacks against Christians on holy days, notably Christmas and Easter.
British military chiefs and ministers have long warned that the defeat of the terror group in the Middle East does not mean it has been vanquished.
They have referred to a ‘pop-up’ IS involving the group emerging elsewhere, often in states where they can exploit a vacuum. They have specifically warned of the rising threat from such diehard jihadis in south-east Asia.
IS fostered a brand which was so effective other terror groups wanted to be associated with it.
Some radicalised Muslims travelled from Sri Lanka to Syria to fight in that country’s civil war.
In 2016, the justice minister said 32 Sri Lankan Muslims from ‘well-educated and elite’ families had joined IS in Syria.
The recent loss of its last territory makes it even more likely that foreign fighters from countries such as Sri Lanka may now be returning home.
Terrorism expert Raffaello Pantucci says the demise of the group’s ‘caliphate’ could have persuaded extremists to stay in their countries and mount attacks there instead. ‘Think how big Islamic State’s footprint is,’ he said. ‘This means it has a reverse effect as well – their ideas are going out to a big pool of places.’
Sri Lankan military stand guard near the explosion site at a church in Batticaloa,with police tape keeping out bysanders
Security forces inspect the St. Anthony’s Shrine after an explosion hit St Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade in Colombo
State minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardene said investigators have identified the culprits behind the ‘terrorist’ attacks (pictuerd: Shangri La hotel, Colombo)
Yesterday’s bombings end a decade of relative peace in Sri Lanka following the end of its civil war in 2009. Terrorist bombings were common during the brutal 25-year struggle during which the Sri Lankan government fought Tamil separatism.
But despite the period of calm, much bitterness and grievance has remained in the country, riven by ethnic disputes.
Sri Lanka, which is mainly Buddhist, does not have a recent history of persecution of its Christian minority, which comprises 7 per cent of the population.
Yet its relations with others, including Hindus and Muslims, have not always been easy. Over the years there has been an increasing rise of discontent among Sri Lanka’s Muslim community, which make up 10 per cent of the population.
In November 1990, many were expelled from their homes in the north and have since been living as ‘displaced’ in the southern part of the country, under the patronage of the state.
Whatever the motives behind yesterday’s attack, there is little doubt that the brutal tactics used by Islamic State will continue to inspire others.
When it comes to mass murder and coordinated terror attacks, we have a long list of experiences to compare.
coordinated series of attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday conjures up memories of previous terrorist attacks. Striking at worshipers at prayer reminds us of the Christchurch Mosque shootings in New Zealand on March 15. It also appears linked to previous Easter attacks, including the 2017 Palm Sunday assault in Egypt in 2017 in which 45 people were murdered, and the terrorist attack in Lahore in 2016 that killed 75. In coordination and the number of sites chosen it is also similar to the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166.
It is a hallmark of our era that when it comes to mass murder and coordinated terrorist attacks we have a long list of past experiences to choose from. In the last decades the growing number of terrorist attacks by far-right Islamist extremists, white nationalists and others has become an almost daily event. Last week gunmen, allegedly terrorists from Iran, murdered 14 people in western Pakistan in an attack on Pakistani security forces. Earlier in April, a bombing attack – not widely reported outside Pakistan and thought to be carried out by the Islamic State – targeted Shi’ites in Quetta. And on Friday there was an attack made on government institutions in Kabul. On Sunday, after the attacks in Sri Lanka, terrorist incidents were also reported in Mali, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, showing the global reach of extremist organizations, many of them linked to ISIS.Read More Related Articles
Recommended byNot all attacks are the same. The ones in Pakistan and Afghanistan specifically struck at the military and government. The one in Quetta targeted minorities. But there are methods that are similar, and there are networks of groups which learn from each other, specifically ISIS and its affiliates. ISIS has built upon decades of experience gained from al-Qaeda, and other groups that have perfected their methods. The full picture of the Sri Lankan attacks was still becoming clear on Sunday afternoon as Sri Lanka imposed a curfew and police launched raids searching for perpetrators. Pakistan’s spokesman for its Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement in the afternoon condemning the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka.” Pakistan says it stands with Sri Lanka. Iran’s Javad Zarif also condemned the attacks as terror, noting that terrorism has no religion. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned the cowardly attacks.” Seven were reported detained.
Sri Lanka has a long history fighting terrorism. It was generally fighting against Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist movement that was largely defeated in 2009. The Tamil fighters were rooted in the Tamil Hindu minority of the Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka. Christians make up only around 8% of the country, and Muslims an additional 12%. In 2016, Sri Lanka revealed that 32 Sri Lankans had joined ISIS and left the country. Many were said to be from educated families, something that surprised authorities. The local Muslim community condemned the government’s statements as tarnishing the image” of Sri Lankan Muslims. An Australian member of ISIS was similarly shown to have a respected uncle back home in Sri Lanka. Other reports indicated ISIS members in India had connections to Sri Lanka, and there were concerns after the defeat of ISIS about returnees from the terrorist group. This appears similar to the extremism in Bangladesh before the 2016 Dhaka attack that was carried out by educated ISIS members who targeted foreigners in a café.
While Easter attacks are carried out by Islamist extremist groups, including the ones in Pakistan and Egypt already mentioned, and an attack in Iraq in 2011, the complex and coordinated nature of the attack in Sri Lanka looks more like those in Mumbai in 2008. In that year, 12 coordinated bombings and shooting attacks were perpetrated across Mumbai, including at a café, the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the Oberoi Trident Hotel, and at the local Chabad house. That attack was coordinated by Lashkar-e-Taiba in Pakistan. Unlike the bombings in Sri Lanka, the attack was carried out by gunmen.
The attacks in Sri Lanka struck three churches: St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo and Batticaloa’s Zion Church, according to Pakistan’s The Dawn newspaper. Police initially estimated that only 20 were killed but soon revised that number to 137, with 45 murdered in Colombo, 25 in Batticaloa, and 67 in Negombo. By nightfall the death toll exceeded 200 and two smaller attacks had taken place, including a suicide bomber who reportedly killed three police. Three major hotels were struck in Colombo, all of them in a line along a major road that links several important central districts of the city. These included the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury.
Sri Lankan Police Chief Pujuth Jayasundara had reportedly warned in April about a threat of attacks targeting churches and the Indian High Commission office, near the hotels that were targeted. In his security notice he had pointed to a local Islamic group. But it isn’t entirely clear if the police chief was convinced there was a threat, as security did not appear to be increased before Easter, the most high-profile holiday to follow.
After the attack in New Zealand, there has been heightened awareness of the threat of attacks on religious institutions and people at prayer. The outpouring of support in the wake of the Christchurch massacre is a lesson for Sri Lanka about the kind of support it will now need. If the death toll is as high as initial reports indicate, this attack will be one of the worst of its kind in recent memory. But these kinds of attacks have become more normal in recent years. Governments have not found a way to prevent them, even with the latest technology and intelligence sharing.
Six members of the NTJ were reportedly arrested when police homed in on one of their hideouts in the city.
A view of St. Sebastian’s Church damaged in blast in Negombo, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday. (Photo: AFP)
Bengaluru: Hours after the first six bombs tore through some of the Sri Lankan capital’s most revered Christian shrines, followed by two more, shattering a decade-long hiatus from a 30-year-long bloody campaign by the separatist Tamil Tigers, the island nation may be facing a fresh and far more virulent threat posed by a radical Muslim group in the form of the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ).
Six members of the NTJ were reportedly arrested when police homed in on one of their hideouts in the city.
A warning by Indian intelligence that the NTJ, a virulently anti-Buddhist group that was linked to the vandalisation of Buddhist statues would target churches in Colombo as well as the Indian High Commission and possibly, an Indian owned hotel, the Taj Samudra, only minutes away from the Cinnamon Grand and the Shangri-La hotels — both of which were attacked — had been sent to the Sri Lankan authorities on April 7.
A letter, seen by Deccan Chronicle, from the Sri Lankan police chief, Pujuth Jayasundara, dated April 11, to his police officers, in which he sends out a nation-wide alert and clearly states that suicide bombers planned to blow up ‘prominent churches’ and the Indian High commission, remained unheeded. One of the two suicide missions targeted the Cinnamon Grand on Sunday.
The letter sent on April 11 warning of a terror attack.
The government of President Maithripala Sirisena which is run by his arch-rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe admitted that they had been informed of the alert, but only after the Sri Lankan capital faced an attack that is now being compared in scale, to 9/11. Mr Wickremesinghe said he did not know why he wasn’t informed of the threat. High level diplomats in Sri Lankan missions told DC they had no knowledge of the alert.
In January, Sri Lankan police seized a haul of explosives and detonators stashed near a wildlife sanctuary following the arrest of four men from NTJ, the newly-formed radical Muslim group.
The Muslim community in Sri Lanka has been largely peaceful, distancing itself from the Tamil separatists, among whom were a number of Christians.
Tensions between the Buddhist and Muslim community boiled over in 2014, when riots broke in Kalutara, after the Bodhu Bala Sena, a Buddhist group incited a rampage against Muslims, and a blanket ban was imposed on reporting the incidents.
Intelligence sources however said Sunday’s Easter Day bombings may have been the NTJ’s payback for the Christchurch massacre. Some reports suggest that IS, which has no presence in Sri Lanka but does operate in the Maldives, saw the Easter Sunday congregations as the perfect target to level scores.
Warning by Indian intelligence sent on April 7 went unheeded.
Sri Lankan firefighters stand in the area around St. Anthony’s Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Photo: AP)
Bengaluru: Hours after the first six bombs tore through some of the Sri Lankan capital’s most revered Christian shrines, followed by two more, shattering a 10-year hiatus from a 30-year-long bloody campaign by the Tamil Tigers, the island nation may be facing a fresh and far more virulent threat posed by a radical Muslim group in the form of the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ). Six members of the NTJ were reportedly arrested when the police homed in one of their hideouts in the city.
A warning by Indian intelligence that NTJ, a virulently anti-Buddhist group that was linked to the vandalisation of Buddhist statues, would target churches in Colombo as well as the Indian high commission and possibly the Indian-owned Taj Samudra hotel, only minutes away from the Cinnamon Grand and ShangriLa hotels — both of which were attacked — was sent to the Sri Lankan authorities on April 7.
A letter, seen by this newspaper, from Sri Lankan police chief Pujuth Jayasundara, dated April 11, to his officers, in which he sends out a nationwide alert and clearly states that suicide bombers planned to blow up prominent churches” and the Indian high commission, remained unheeded. One of the two suicide missions targeted the Cinnamon Grand on Sunday morning.
The government of President Maithripala Sirisena which is run by his arch-rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe admitted that they had been informed of the alert, but only after the Sri Lankan capital faced an attack that is now being compared in scale to 9/11. Mr Wickremesinghe said he did not know why he wasn’t informed of the threat. High-level diplomats in Sri Lankan missions told this newspaper that they had no knowledge of the alert.
However, in January, the Sri Lankan police seized a haul of explosives and detonators stashed near a wildlife sanctuary following the arrest of four men from NTJ, the newly-formed radical Muslim group.
The Muslim community in Sri Lanka has been largely peaceful, distancing itself from the Tamil separatists, among whom were a number of Christians. Tensions between the Buddhist and Muslims had boiled over in 2014, when riots broke in Kalutara, after the Bodhu Bala Sena, a Buddhist group, incited a rampage against Muslims, and a blanket ban was imposed on reporting the incidents.
Intelligence sources, however, said Sunday’s Easter Day bombings may have been the NTJ’s payback for the Christchurch massacre. Some reports suggest that ISIS, which has no presence in Sri Lanka, but does operate in the Maldives, saw the Easter Sunday congregations as the perfect target to level scores.
CPEC
has become a pain in the neck of the forces hostile to Pakistan. They know it
very well that CPEC is a life-line of Pakistan and after completion this
project is going to give Pakistan a new economic boost. This project would
certainly liberate Pakistan from the economic exploitation of the institutions
like IMF which are simply like tools in the hands of US. Recently it was
reported in media that IMF is pressuring Pakistan to either slow down work on
the CPEC or come out of it. Coming out of the CPEC or slowing it down means spoiling
China’s wonderful contribution to Pakistan’s future. IMF has asked the
government to make the revenue target of Rs5400 billion for the next budgetary
year. Commenting on IMF’s terms and conditions Dr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan, a
renowned economist said that GDP growth numbers worked out by the IFIs such as
3.9 percent by the ADB, 3.4 percent by the World Bank and 2.7 percent by the
IMF served nothing but to push Pakistan to the Fund on strict terms. He said by these figures one can easily make
it out, on the one side, the Fund is predicting the lowest GDP growth, on the
other side it is asking for 40 percent growth in revenue. The contradictions
clearly show the world powers are blackmailing Pakistan with IMF bailout
package. In short the international hostile forces are pushing Pakistan to an
alley of economic exploitation.
Another
example of economic exploitation of the counties like Pakistan is the Grey List
prepared by FATF. The abbreviation FATF stands for Financial Action Task Force.
Since 2000, the FATF is issuing a black list consisting of the names of the
countries which it judges to be non-cooperative in the global fight against
money laundering and terrorist financing. Such countries are given the name of
Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories. In short FATF’s grey list includes
countries that are not doing enough to fight money laundering and terrorist
financing. This list keeps on changing with the passage of time and the names
of those countries are struck off which take serious action in the light of
guidelines provided by FATF. Pakistan’s name had been in the grey-list for
three years, i.e., from 2012 to 2015. Later on, the Task Force recognized
Pakistan’s efforts and removed its name from the grey list in 2015. Unfortunately
in spite of Pakistan’s all successful efforts against the money-launderers and
terrorist financers, once again Pakistan’s name was included in FATF’s
grey-list. Experts say that this inclusion was a result of conspiracy of the
forces hostile to Pakistan’s progress, peace and prosperity. On top of the list
of such countries were USA and India. These two countries spent a lot of
resources on lobbying against Pakistan in shape of a well planned media war. By
defaming and blaming the religious parties and their leaders; by fixing and
framing sometimes Hafiz Saeed and sometimes Molana Masood Azhar, these
countries did all their best to achieve their objective and ultimately
succeeded in dragging back Pakistan’s name in FATF’s grey list somewhere in mid
of June 2018. But Pakistan did not lose heart and kept on bringing the things
back into the order desired by FATF. The Khaleej Times has recently reported
that Pakistan is going to be excluded from
FATF’s grey list by September 2019.
Now
it is in the news that FATF team is satisfied with Pakistan’s overall efforts
and action plan to fight the menace of money laundering and terror-financing.
Certainly the present government of Pakistan is doing all its best for the
financial stability of the country by keeping a strict eye on all those who are
providing a chance to the forces hostile to defame Pakistan by getting involved
in financial malpractices. The
determination of our government in this matter is really admirably commendable.
If Pakistan’s name is excluded from the grey-list, it would save Pakistan from
an annual loss of approximately $10 billion. To keep the country safe from the
‘grey-list conspiracy’ in future the government of Pakistan has tightened the
security along Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran borders and certainly the Line of
Control is also being observed and guarded very strictly as international
watch-dogs consider these routs as the ‘ key routes’ for money laundering and
terror-financing. It is really a hard luck for Pakistan that its neighbouring
countries never miss a chance of joining hands with the forces hostile to Pakistan
but in spite of all these facts we the Pakistanis have a lot of courage to face
and defeat all such conspiracies.
One of the Sri Lanka terrorist bombers checked into a five-star hotel, waited in a queue for a breakfast buffet and then blew himself up, it has emerged.
A manager at the Cinnamon Grand hotel in Colombo said the attacker had set off the horrific explosion in a packed restaurant at 8.30am.
The bomber had checked in under a false address, claiming he was in the city on business, before unleashing terror on one of the hotel’s busiest days of the year.
At least 207 people have died in the eight Easter Sunday blasts, including Brits, Americans and Dutch nationals.
Security forces inspect the scene after a blast targeting The Kingsbury hotel in Colombo. It was one of three hotels targetted in the co-ordinated attacks. Photo / AP
The bombings targeted hotels such as the Cinnamon Grand which are popular with foreign visitors, as well as St Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, also frequented by tourists.
Other blasts were reported at St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a majority-Catholic town, and at Zion Church in the eastern town of Batticalo.
Describing the Cinnamon Grand bombing, the manager said the attacker had registered the night before as Mohamed Azzam Mohamed.
The bomber was just about to be served when he set off the explosives which were strapped to his back, killing himself and numerous guests.
The manager said: ‘There was utter chaos. It was 8.30 am and it was busy. It was families.
“He came up to the top of the queue and set off the blast. One of our managers who was welcoming guests was among those killed instantly.”
A pipe bomb was found near Colombo’s airport, according to officials.
The bomb was found on a road near Bandaranaike International Airport and detonated by explosives experts, Air Force spokesman Gihan Seneviratne told Bloomberg.
Three police officers were killed while searching a suspected safe house in the outskirts of Colombo in the eighth explosion on Easter Sunday. The occupants of the house reportedly detonated explosives to prevent arrest.
The explosions tore through congregations at churches in Colombo, nearby Negombo and the eastern Sri Lankan town of Batticaloa.
The hotels hit in Colombo were the Shangri-La, the Kingsbury, the Cinnamon Grand and the Tropical Inn.
Colombo, April 21 (newsin.asia): The Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday decided to appoint a commission to inquire into the Eastern Sunday serial blasts in Colombo and three other towns in which 228 persons, including nine foreigners, were killed and 470 injured. The media reported that the President would ask the commission to submit a report within two weeks.
Meanwhile, the police have recovered the van in which the explosives used in the carnage were carried. The van was found in Ramakrishna Road in Wellawatte in South Colombo. Its driver has been arrested. The police had earlier arrested seven persons in connection with the eight blasts in two fire-star hotels in Colombo, and churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa.
The police have also discovered a house in Sarikkamulla, in Panadura, south of Colombo, which had been a shelter for the terrorists.
Colombo, April 21 (newsin.asia) – The death toll from the multiple blasts which ripped across Sri Lanka on Sunday has risen to 228 while over 450 have been injured.
The Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) in a statement said that 32 foreigners from China, Belgium, USA, and UK were among those killed.
The police have imposed an island-wide curfew which will stay indefinitely.
State Minister of Defence, Ruwan Wijewardene called Sunday’s attacks a terrorist attack carried out by extremist groups”, and said a full investigation will be conducted to find out who was responsible for the attacks. He said 7 people have been arrested so far and the police are on the lookout for more suspects.
Police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekera said the police were not able to divulge who was responsible for Sunday’s attacks till the full investigations are complete.
Kasargode, April 22 (The Hindu): Four Indian nationals were killed in the Colombo serial blasts while six others are reported to have escaped with minor injuries.
The four victims have been identified as P.S. Raseena, Lakshmi, Narayan Chandrashekhar, Ramesh.
Businessman and TDP leader Amilineni Surendrababu and five of his friends, who were on holiday inSri Lankaand staying at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, had a narrow escape as blasts hit the hotel on Sunday morning. Superintendent of Police, Anantapur, G.V.G. Ashok Kumar said the six Indians were safe, but could not be contacted.
However, Ms Raseena, from Mogral Puthur of Kasargode district in Kerala was not so lucky and was killed even as she was checking out of the same hotel. According to relatives, Ms. Raseena and her husband Khader Kukadi, an engineer working in Dubai, were on a holiday in Colombo. Mr Kukadi had checked out of the hotel earlier on Sunday and left for Dubai while Ms Raseena was to leave the hotel and visit her brother, Mr. Bahseer, a resident of Colombo. Mr. Basheer, who was to pick Mr Raseena from the hotel, later identified her body at a city hospital.
Steps for flying down the body of Razeena who was killed in a blast at a hotel in Sri Lanka to the State are progressing, the Chief Minister’s office has informed.
In a press communique, the CMO said that the Department of Non-Resident Keralites Affairs is in touch with the relatives of Razeena as well as the Indian High Commissioner’s office in Sri Lanka. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condoled the death of Razeena.
Mr. Vijayan said that the blasts that occurred on an Easter day point to the communal elements and also underlines the need for freeing countries from the clutch of such elements who nurture intolerance. He condemned the incident and declared solidarity with those involved in a fight against intolerance and communalism.
Colombo, April 22 (newsin.asia): Before the blasts in Colombo and other towns in Sri Lanka on Sunday, a memo warned of a potential attack and requested heightened security, a police source told CNN.
State Intelligence service had said in the memo that information had been received regarding an alleged plan of suicidal attack by the leader of ‘ Nations Thawahid Jaman” Mohomad Saharan.
The memo was dated April 11 and was signed by Sri Lanka’s Deputy Inspector General of police. Priyalal Dissanayake
Sri Lankan Minister of Telecommunication Harin Fernando tweeted a picture of the memo on Sunday.
Some intelligence officers were aware of this incidence. Therefore there was a delay in action. What my father heard was also from an intelligence officer. Serious action needs to be taken as to why this warning was ignored. I was in Badulla last night,” he wrote.
CNN obtained a copy of the memo. Here’s what it says:
Reference to the letter of the defence ministry with regard to the above and the statement of IGP dated 2019.04.09 ref : STAFF05/IGP/PS/OUT/2860/19,
2. We would like to draw your special attention to the a page no 2 to 4 of the statement of the State Intelligence service stating that information has been received regarding an alleged plan of suicidal attack by the leader of ‘ Nations Thawahid Jaman ‘ Mohomad Saharan .
3. According to information of that statement ,would like you to give special attention and inform your staff to provide special security measures to the areas covered by your division.
Priyalal Dissanayake Deputy Inspector General of Police
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