Colombo, April 21, 2019: At least 207 people were killed and more than 450 wounded on April 21 when eight explosions hit churches and hotels in and around the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.
Sri Lanka declared curfew after the eighth blast was reported in Colombo. A while earlier, the seventh blast killed two people in the capital city. Six nearly serial blasts had rocked the island nation early morning.
The country’s authorities convened an emergency meeting involving the heads of the army, air force and navy, according to Sri Lanka’s economic reforms minister, Harsha de Silva.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned the attacks as “cowardly. The government imposed an immediate and indefinite curfew across the island nation of 21 million people as it faced the worst act of violence since the end of civil war a decade ago.
Seven people suspected of having links with the terror attacks have been arrested, Sri Lanka’s Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said, adding “most attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.”
Police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekera said the authorities were investigating whether suicide attackers were involved in all eight of them.
Gunasekera told reporters the number of dead had risen to 207, with over 450 people injured. Ravinatha Aryasinha, secretary to the foreign ministry, told reporters there were 27 bodies of suspected foreign nationals in the Colombo National Hospital.
A police officer earlier said 35 foreigners were among the dead and hospital sources told AFP that British, Dutch and American citizens had been killed, with Britons and Japanese also injured. A Portuguese man also died, the country’s LUSA news agency reported.
Several countries, including India, condemned the deadly blasts.
Indian President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi said New Delhi stood in solidarity with the island nation. Pakistan PM Imran Khan tweeted that his country “stood in complete solidarity with Sri Lanka in its hour of grief.”
US President Donald Trump offered “heartfelt condolences” and said US stand ready to help. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: “It is shocking that people who gathered to celebrate Easter together were consciously targeted in this malicious attack.”
Here’s the full list of blast sites reported so far:
St Anthony’s Shrine, Kochchikade; St Sebastian’s Church, Negombo; Zion Church, Batticaloa; Cinnamon Grand, Colombo; Shangri-La Hotel, Colombo; The Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo; Near Dehiwala Zoo in Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia; A house in Mahawila Gardens, Dematagoda.
There was however no immediate claim of responsibility. Sri Lankan security officials said police and security services immediately rushed to all affected areas and sealed off the churches and hotels.
The violence ends 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.
Father Edmond Tillekeratne, social communications director for the Archdiocese of Colombo, spoke to CNN from St. Sebastian’s Church, one of the locations targeted.
He said that the blast took place after Easter Mass, and there were about 30 bodies lying in the area of the church.
Father Tillekeratne said three priests had been celebrating the Mass at the time 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 to the church for Easter Sunday “because it is a special day.” Many came from villages, he added.
He described the ground as covered in rubble and shattered glass. “You can see pieces of flesh thrown all over the walls and on the sanctuary and even outside of the church,” he added.
Christianity is a minority religion in Sri Lanka with a total population of 21.4 million. According to census data, 70.2 percent of Sri Lankans identify as Buddhist, 12 percent Hindu, 9.7 percent Muslim, and 7.4 percent Christian.
An estimated 82 percent of Sri Lankan Christians are Catholic.