A string of eight devastating blasts, including suicide attacks, struck churches and luxury hotels frequented by foreigners in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 215 people and shattering a decade of peace in the island nation since the end of the brutal civil war with the LTTE.
The blasts, one of the deadliest attacks in the country’shistory, targeted St Anthony’s Church in Colombo, St Sebastian’s Church in thewestern coastal town of Negombo and Zion Church in the eastern town of Batticaloaaround 8.45 a.m. (local time) as the Easter Sunday mass were in progress,police spokesman RuwanGunasekera said.
Explosions were reported from three five-star hotels—theShangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury in Colombo.
Gunasekera confirmed 207 deaths. However, the News 1stchannel said that 215 people have died in the blasts.
Director of the National Hospital Dr. Anil Jasingheidentified 11 of the 27 foreign nationals killed in the coordinated attacksbelieved to be carried out by a single group.
An Indian, two Chinese and one each from Poland, Denmark,Japan, Pakistan, America, Morocco and Bangladesh are among the dead at theNational Hospital.
Around 500 people, including Indians, were injured in theattacks. No group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attacks.
However, most of the deadly attacks in the past in Sri Lankawere carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which ran amilitary campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and easternprovinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader VelupillaiPrabhakaran.
Briefing reporters, Gunasekera said the police was not ableto confirm at the moment if they were all suicide attacks. He, however, saidthat one of the blasts at the Katuwapitiya (Negombo) church has signs of beingwhat looked like a suicide attack.
An unnamed official said a suicide bomber blew himself up atthe restaurant of the Cinnamon Grand hotel.
Gunasekara said that 66 bodies were kept at the NationalHospital while 260 injured were receiving treatment there and 104 bodies wereplaced at the Negombo Hospital and 100 injured were receiving treatment at theHospital.
Later in the day, a powerful blast in the capital’s southernsuburb near the Colombo Zoo killed two persons, Gunasekera said.
When a police team entered a house in the Colombo northsuburb of Orugodawatta to conduct a search, a suicide bomber blew himself upcausing a concrete floor of a two-storey building to crash on them, killingthree policemen in the eighth blast, police said.
Soon after the eighth blast, the government imposed curfewwith immediate effect. The curfew will be in force indefinitely until furthernotice, officials said.
State Minister of DefenceRuwanWijewardene said seven personshad been arrested in connection with the blasts.
“We believe these were coordinated attacks, and onegroup was behind them,” Wijewardene said.
President MaithripalaSirisena has appealed for calm.
“I have been shocked by this totally unexpected incidents.The security forces have been asked to take all action necessary,” Sirisenasaid.
Prime Minister RanilWickremesinghe termed the blasts as”cowardly attacks” and said his government was working to “contain the situation.”
“I call upon all Sri Lankans during this tragic time toremain united and strong… The government is taking immediate steps to containthis situation,” he tweeted.
Security has been intensified around the religious placesacross the capital. The government has temporarily blocked all social mediaplatforms.
“Horrible scenes. I saw many body parts strewn allover,” said Harsha de Silva, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Economic Reforms andPublic Distribution.
The Indian High Commission in Colombo said that it wasclosely monitoring the situation in Sri Lanka.
“We are closely monitoring the situation. Indiancitizens in need of assistance or help and for seeking clarification may callthe following numbers : +94777903082 +94112422788 +94112422789,” the HighCommission tweeted.
“In addition to the numbers given, Indian citizens inneed of assistance or help and for seeking clarification may also call thefollowing numbers +94777902082 +94772234176,” it said.
The first blasts were reported at St Anthony’s church inColombo and St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo just outside the capital.
“A bomb attack to our church, please come and help ifyour family members are there,” read a post in English on the Facebook pageof the St Sebastian’s Church.
Images circulated on social media showed severely damaged StSebastian’s church, with a shattered ceiling and blood on the pews.
Heavy security has been deployed at the BandaranaikeInternational Airport. The riot police and the Special Task Force, extra policesecurity has been deployed around the airport, state-run Daily News reported.
Leave of all police personnel has been cancelled in the wakeof blasts.
Doctors, nurses and health officials who were on leave havebeen asked to report to work, Health Ministry sources said.
All state Universities have been closed until furthernotice.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said all Easter masses in theColombo District have been cancelled.
Former president MahindaRajapaksa, under whose leadershipthe Lankan Army crushed the LTTE, termed the attack as “barbaric”.
“We will not tolerate such violence, such acts ofterrorism, of cowardice within our borders once again,” he said.
The St. Sebastian’s Church in the western coastal town ofNegombo bore the brunt of a series of powerful blasts across Sri Lanka onEaster Sunday with 74 deaths and a top priest saying pieces of flesh werethrown all over the walls, on the sanctuary and even outside the church.
Father Edmond Tillekeratne, social communications directorfor the Archdiocese of Colombo, spoke to CNN from St. Sebastian’s Church, oneof the locations targeted.
He said that the blast took place after Easter Mass, andthat there were about 30 bodies lying in the area of the church.
He said three priests had been celebrating the mass at thetime of the blast. Two of them were badly injured by flying glass and debris,and one was only lightly injured because he was behind the altar.
He estimated that more than a thousand people had come tothe church for Easter Sunday “because it is a special day.” Many people camefrom villages, he said.
He described the ground as covered in rubble and shatteredglass.
“You can see pieces of flesh thrown all over the walls andon the sanctuary and even outside of the church,” he added.
The church, built in 1946, is one of the many churches inSri Lanka dedicated to St Sebastian who is considered a martyr in the CatholicChurch history.
At the St. Anthony’s Church in Colombo, journalists sawbodies lying on the floor, some draped with scarves and clothes.
Reports say said much of the church roof had been blown offin the explosion, with tiles, glass and splintered wood littering thefloor—along with pools of blood.
The Archbishop of Colombo has demanded that those responsiblefor the Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka to be punished “mercilessly.”
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, in a strong statement, urged thegovernment to launch a “very impartial strong inquiry” and to punish thosefound responsible “mercilessly because only animals can behave like that.”
All Easter mass in the Colombo District have been cancelled, the Cardinal announced.