New footage has emerged appearing to show a suspected suicide bomber entering St Sebastian's church in Negombo. The subsequent explosion was the deadliest of the series of coordinated bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing more than 50 people. The footage was broadcast widely on Sri Lankan news channels
At least 290 people have now been confirmed killed and 500 injured by a series of eight explosions
The Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has sent his condolences to the victims of Sunday’s suicide bombings. One Japanese citizen died in the attacks.
I would like to offer my prayers for the victims of the attacks, as well as my heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and my sympathies to the wounded.
Japan expresses sincere solidarity with Sri Lankan people to overcome this difficult time.
An update from our south Asia correspondent, who was near the controlled explosion outside a church in Colombo.
There was chaos outside St Anthony’s Church on Monday afternoon after a suspicious package was discovered inside the dense neighbourhood that surrounds the house of worship that was gutted by a bomb on Easter Sunday.
Police have now clarified it was a controlled explosion of a suspicious package found in a van https://t.co/wWfvpYHmeQ
Continue reading...National Thowheeth Jama’ath blamed but attacks of this scale require huge organisation
Sri Lankan officials have blamed a small local group called National Thowheeth Jama’ath for the bomb attacks on Sunday. It is unclear whether this assertion is based on new information discovered by investigators since the atrocity or a notice circulated by Sri Lankan police 10 days before the blasts, which said the group was planning suicide attacks against churches.
There is a similarly named Islamist organisation active on the island nation – the Sri Lanka Thowheeth Jama’ath. It is unclear if this group is the one referred to by the warning, which was based on information passed to Sri Lankan authorities by a foreign intelligence service, believed to be either India’s or the US’s.
Continue reading...Death toll from Easter Sunday’s eight bomb blasts nears 300, with 500 others injured
The wave of bombings on Sunday targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka is among the worst terrorist attacks carried out worldwide since September 11, in which 2,977 people died.
On Monday, police said the death toll had surged overnight to 290, with the number expected to rise further. About 500 people were injured, according to reports.
Continue reading...Features that make Facebook so useful for spreading information have also made it potentially dangerous
The Sri Lankan government’s decision to block all social media sites in the wake of Sunday’s deadly attacks is emblematic of just how much US-based technology companies’ failure to rein in misinformation, extremism and incitement to violence has come to outweigh the claimed benefits of social media.
Sri Lanka’s government moved to block Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram – all owned by Facebook – on Sunday out of concern that “false news reports … spreading through social media” could lead to violence. The services will be suspended until investigations into the blasts that killed more than 200 people are concluded, the government said. Non-Facebook social media services including YouTube and Viber have also been suspended, but Facebook and WhatsApp are the dominant platforms in the country.
Continue reading...Thirty-six foreigners were thought to be among those killed in attacks that left at least 207 people dead and 450 injured
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday “several” US citizens died in a series of explosions in Sri Lanka that killed at least 207 people and left 450 injured. That toll was expected to rise.
Related: Sri Lanka death toll expected to rise as leaders condemn killings
Continue reading...Multiple attacks in churches and luxury hotels as worshippers attended Easter services have killed more than 200 people
Continue reading...At least 207 people are dead and 450 injured after a coordinated wave of bombings struck Sri Lanka. At least five British citizens were among those killed when attackers targeted churches in the worst violence the country has seen since the end of its bloody civil war in 2009
Much bitterness and grievance remain in country where war is unfinished business for some
Coordinated bomb attacks on worshippers attending Easter church services and multiple other targets across Sri Lanka were the work of terrorists or religious extremists, a government minister has suggested.
But after the murderous wave of indiscriminate violence shocked and paralysed the country on Sunday, it seemed clear the authorities had been caught off-guard by an unknown enemy that struck without warning and without mercy.
Continue reading...The archbishop of Colombo, Malcolm Ranjith, has urged Sri Lankans not to ‘take the law into their own hands’, after a series of explosions targeting churches and hotels on Easter Sunday killed hundreds of people. ‘I condemn, to the utmost of my capacity, this act that has caused so much death and suffering,’ he said.
Continue reading...More than 100 people have been killed and hundreds injured after a series of explosions rocked churches in Sri Lanka. Footage circulated on social media showed the roof of one church almost entirely blown off, as people rushed to help worshippers caught in the attacks on one of the most important days in the Christian calendar.