Seven people were arrested and three police officers were killed during a raid on a house in Colombo.
By a Staff Reporter – The Economic Times
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 22, 2019 – Sri Lanka declared a curfew after eight blasts were reported by police in Colombo on Sunday. Six nearly simultaneous blasts rocked the country on Easter. The first six blasts hit three churches and three five-star hotels during Easter mass. These were the first major attacks since the end of the civil war 10 years ago. According to local reports, the blasts in hotels and churches in different parts of the country occurred at around 8.45 am (local time) as the Easter Sunday masses were in progress in churches.
An ambulance is seen outside the church premises with gathered security personnel following a blast at the St. Anthony’s Shrine in Kochchikade, Colombo on April 21, 2019. – At least 42 people were killed April 21 in a string of blasts at hotels and churches as worshippers attended Easter services, a police official told AFP. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP)
Sri Lanka police investigate the bombings at this unidentified church
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks in a country which was at war for decades with Tamil separatists until 2009 during which bomb blasts in the capital were common.
Sri Lanka’s police chief had made a nationwide alert 10 days before today’s bomb attacks.
“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,” said the alert. NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that came to notice last year when it was linked to the vandalization of Buddhist statues.
