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The apparently coordinated attacks were the deadliest to hit the country in the decade since the end of a bloody civil war that killed up to 100,000 people and evoked painful memories for many Sri Lankans
The apparently coordinated attacks were the deadliest to hit the country in the decade since the end of a bloody civil war that killed up to 100,000 people and evoked painful memories for many Sri Lankans (AFP Photo/STR
Negombo
(Sri Lanka) (AFP) - More than 200 people are now known to have died in a
series of bomb blasts that tore through churches and luxury hotels in
Sri Lanka, in the worst violence to hit the island since its devastating
civil war ended a decade ago.
Eight apparently co-ordinated explosions targeted Easter worshippers and high end hotels popular with international guests.
At least 207 people were killed, among them dozens of foreigners.
An improvised bomb discovered at the main airport in Colombo was defused late Sunday, police said.
A
nationwide curfew imposed on Sunday shortly after the blasts was lifted
early Monday, with AFP journalists reporting a steady stream of people
and tuk tuks on the streets of Negombo.
There was still a heavy security presence at the city's St Sebastien's Church, the scene of one of the devastating blasts.
Sri
Lanka's small Christian minority -- just six percent of the 21
million-strong population -- has been targeted by violence in the past,
but never to such brutal effect.
There
was no immediate claim of responsibility, but police said Monday 13
people had been arrested. The government earlier said investigators
would to look into whether the attackers had "overseas links".
The powerful blasts -– six in quick succession and then two more hours later -- wounded around 450 people.
At
least two of the explosions involved suicide bombers, including one who
lined up at a hotel breakfast buffet before unleashing carnage.
The
government said the dead included three Indians, three Britons, two
from Turkey and one Portuguese national. Two people holding both British
and US passports were also among the fatalities.
"Additionally,
while nine foreign nationals are reported missing, there are 25
unidentified bodies believed to be of foreigners," the foreign ministry
said.
Japan's foreign ministry said one of its nationals was among the dead.
The churches targeted included the historic St Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, where the blast blew out much of the roof.
Bodies lay on the floor of the church, covered in patterned scarves and white sheets, some of them stained with blood.
Shattered
roof tiles and shards of glass littered the floor, along with chunks of
plaster blasted from the walls by the explosion.
- 'A lot of fear' -
Documents
seen by AFP show that Sri Lanka's police chief Pujuth Jayasundara
issued an intelligence alert to top officers 10 days ago, warning that
suicide bombers planned to hit "prominent churches".
"A
foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National
Thowheeth Jama'ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting
prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,"
the alert said.
The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that was linked last year to the vandalisation of Buddhist statues.
Prime
Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe acknowledged that "information was there"
about possible attacks and that an investigation would look into "why
adequate precautions were not taken".
Ethnic
and religious violence has plagued Sri Lanka for decades, with a
37-year conflict with Tamil rebels followed by an upswing in recent
years in clashes between the Buddhist majority and Muslims.
- 'River of blood' -
Sri Lanka's minister of economic reforms Harsha de Silva described "horrible scenes" at St Anthony's church.
"I saw many body parts strewn all over," he tweeted.
Witness N. A. Sumanapala was near the church when the blast happened.
"I ran inside to help. The priest came out and he was covered in blood," he told AFP. "It was a river of blood."
A second blast hit St Sebastian's Church during Easter Mass.
Gabriel,
who declined to give his family name, said his brother was injured in
the explosion, adding: "We don't want the country to go back to that
dark past where we had to live in fear of suicide blasts all the time."
Soon
after the first two church blasts, police confirmed that the Zion
church in the east coast town of Batticaloa had been hit, along with
three high-end hotels in the capital -- the Cinnamon Grand, the
Shangri-La and the Kingsbury.
A
manager at the Cinnamon Grand, near the prime minister's official
residence in Colombo, said a suicide bomber blew himself up at the
hotel's restaurant.
"He came up to the top of the queue and set off the blast," the manager said.
Later
in the afternoon, two people died in a strike at a hotel in the south
of Colombo, and a suicide bomber killed three police officers as they
raided a house in a northern suburb of the city.
- 'Animals' -
Wickremesinghe urged people to "hold our unity as Sri Lankans" and pledged to "wipe out this menace once and for all".
The
archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Ranjith, described the attackers as
"animals" and called on authorities to "punish them mercilessly".
The attacks drew condemnation from around the world, including from US President Donald Trump and the pope.
Embassies
in the capital warned citizens to stay inside, while there were chaotic
scenes at Colombo airport as travellers formed huge lines at the only
taxi counter that was open.
