Bloody Sunday: Sri Lanka Easter Church And Hotel Bombings Kill Over 200



Series of blasts at 3 churches and 3 high end hotels.

Sun, 04/21/2019 - 08:47
23 SHARES

Just as Sri Lanka's minority Christian population gathered to celebrate Easter at churches across the nation on Sunday morning, six nearly simultaneous explosions ripped through three churches and three high-end hotels packed with tourists.
Local police have said they believe at least two of the church blasts were carried out by suicide bombers in a highly coordinated attack, leaving over 200 people dead and multiple hundreds more injured, including more than 27 foreigners, according to the AP.



St. Anthony's Shrine after an explosion hit the church in Kochchikade in Colombo. Image source: Anadolu Agency

The first bombing targeted St. Anthony’s Shrine in the country's capital of Colombo, while the second hit St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a Catholic majority town north of Colombo.
The churches, which also included a third in Batticaloa, were targeted as worshippers gathered for Easter service at 8:45am local time. A seventh blast was reported near the national zoo in Colombo after the first six, and CNN reports there may have been up to eight bomb sites.



Three luxury hotels in Colombo were also targeted, identified in international reports as the Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury.

Outside one of three churches attacked on Easter Sunday in the Sri Lanka attacks, via AFP/Daily Express

As the NYT reports, 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.”
Marlou posted that the guests had been stuck outside for more than two hours before being ushered back inside as the sun got hot. Meanwhile, 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.”
There appears to have also been a possible shootout between suspected attackers and police as at least one Sri Lankan officer was reported to have died while raiding a location believed to house some of the terror attack plotters.


Seth Frantzman ✔ @sfrantzman

Replying to @sfrantzman
Map of the locations of the attacks in #SriLanka #Easter in which more than 100 murdered, we can see the important hotels struck all in a line in the central areas, churches were struck also north and east of the city, one on east coast.

470
3:12 AM - Apr 21, 2019


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 The country's defense minister announced later in the day that seven suspects linked to the blasts have been arrested.
Meanwhile the prime minister condemned the attacks as "cowardly" and a nationwide curfew has been imposed.

Sri Lankan Army soldiers secure the area around St Anthony's Shrine after a blast in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Image source: AP

Eyewitnesses reported the ground shaking in the vicinity of some of the blasts, with other reports citing witnesses who saw severed body parts outside one of the luxury hotels hit.



Via the AP/NYT No group has yet to claim responsibility for the deadly Easter morning attack, though Sri Lankan Christians as a sizable minority at about 8% have reported at uptick of persecution and threats coming from Muslims and majority Buddhist population.

Al Jazeera English ✔ @AJEnglish

Video at the tweet

Replying to @AJEnglish
Several explosions have rocked churches and hotels in Sri Lanka killing at least 156 people on #EasterSunday

Here’s what we know so far:

726
6:25 AM - Apr 21, 2019


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 Theravada Buddhism is the official religion of Sri Lanka, at about 70% of the population. The vast majority of Sri Lanka's Christians are Roman Catholic.





Kavinthan s @Kavinthans

Video at the tweet

A dashcam footage showing the blast which occurred this morning at Kochikade St. Anthony's church.#SriLanka #Lk

136
3:14 AM - Apr 21, 2019


166 people are talking about this

President Trump has offered US assistance in the wake of the Easter terror attacks now gripping world headlines.

Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump

138 people have been killed in Sri Lanka, with more that 600 badly injured, in a terrorist attack on churches and hotels. The United States offers heartfelt condolences to the great people of Sri Lanka. We stand ready to help!

80.6K
7:20 AM - Apr 21, 2019
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The Easter Sunday attacks are the worst single day violence the country has seen since its civil war ended a decade ago. Via Bloomberg:
Sri Lanka’s ability to attract direct foreign investments is expected to diminish following the attacks on Sunday, according to Raffaele Bertoni, head of debt-capital markets at Gulf Investment Corp. in Kuwait City. This morning’s events along with rising political tensions and lower economic activity will have an impact on assets starting with the rupee. He sees the rupee weakening to 180 per dollar.
This after the Rupee closed at 174.11 a dollar on Thursday.
developing...

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...-kill-over-200