In an apparently coordinated attacks occurred six explosions around the clock 08.45 local time on Sunday (05.15 Swedish time) in both the capital city of Colombo and other places in Sri Lanka. At 10.30-the time american time data on a seventh explosion, and an hour later it was reported about an eighth.
in the attacks, says the sri lankan police, according to AFP. At the same time have at least 450 injured. Around 30 foreign nationals are reported among the victims, among them the Dutch, the british, the americans and the turks. A chinese citizen must also have been killed and three injured. According to the Danish ministry of foreign affairs has also three danes have died in connection with the incidents, reports Reuters.
Photo: DN
a total of 13 people have been arrested, with the reason of the attacks, according to Reuters. All arrested are sri lankans. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the killings, which are the worst since the civil war in the country ended ten years ago. According to the government, it appears most of the explosions to be carried out by suicide bombers belonging to a group, writes the Guardian.
AFP said that the Sri Lankan police chief Pujuth Jayasundara went out ten days ago and warned that suicide bombers planned to attack churches in the country. Jayasundara got the information from a foreign security service, which warned that the islamist group NTJ should have been involved in the plans.
the coordinated attack, the government decided to introduce a nighttime curfew in the country with the beginning at 18 on Sunday. It was unclear how long it would remain in force. At the same time it was announced that access to social media and messaging is closed. According to president Maithripala Sirisenas staff is there to prevent the dissemination of incorrect information about the events.
the President, travelling abroad, asks in an official statement the people to remain calm and support the authorities in the investigation of the events.
Prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe writes on Twitter that he ”vigorously condemns the cowardly attacks against our people in the day”. He calls on all sri lankans to ”remain united and strong”.
There are three five-star hotels and three churches that have been exposed.
in Colombo. On one of these, Cinnamon Grand, were at least a fatality, ” says a resident of the AFP. The explosion should have destroyed a restaurant. The other two hotels, the Kingsbury and the Shangri-La.
A manager at the Cinnamon Grand describe to AFP how a suicide bomber blew himself up inside at the hotel restaurant.
He had arrived at the front of the queue when the bomb is solved, ” he says.
A church affected is the St. Anthony church in Colombo. N. A. Sumanapala worked in a shop in the vicinity of St Anthony-the church when the explosion occurred, writes AFP.
I ran in to help. The priest came out and he was covered with blood, ” he says to the news agency.
“It was a river of blood,” he continues.
another blast was directed at the St Sebastian church, which is located in the outskirts of Negombo a few miles north of the capital. Paul Perreira had in social media, posted several pictures of the devastation in St. Sebastian church. The images he had received from friends who were there.
– It is easter Sunday today, and therefore there was an unusual amount of people in the churches today, ” said Perreira to the DN on the phone from Negombo at 08-time Swedish time.
after sprängdådet show great devastation, a torn roof and blood on the benches. According to the police, was killed in which 67 people.
An explosion also occurred in the Zion church in Batticaloa on the east side of the island. A source at the hospital in the town, says to AFP that 300 injured people have been taken into care there. According to TT they had just finished the morning’s Sunday school for children when it slammed.
According to the latest information I have received, there are 14 children and 14 adults were killed in the attack, says mr. Ratnam, the leader of the affected pentecostal church, TT.
Image 1 of 7 Photo: Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Image 2 of 7 Photo: Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Image 3 of 7 Photo: Eranga Jayawardena/AP Image 4 of 7 Photo: Eranga Jayawardena/AFP Image 5 of 7 Photo: Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Slide 6 of 7 Photo: Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Slide 7 of 7 Photo: Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Slideshow
The seventh explosion as the reports came on at 10: 30 a.m.-time Swedish time shall have occurred at a hotel in the district of Dehiwala in south of Colombo. Two people have died in the explosion, AFP reports.
the Same news source states that even the eighth explosion took place in the capital, in connection with a search warrant. A suicide bomber triggered an explosive device and three police officers were killed in the explosion, writes the news agency.
the state Department went on the Sunday night out with an advice against ”non-essential” travel to the whole of Sri Lanka, on the occasion of the security situation. Dissuasion is valid until further notice.
– It is the tourist and to visit relatives or friends, which we discourage, ” says Erika Dahlberg at the Swedish foreign MINISTRY’s press office.
” We are of the opinion that the tourist travel and business travel are two different types of trips, and therefore needed different avrådansnivåer.
At 23-time sweden had the foreign MINISTRY’s press service, no information about injured or killed swedes.
On Sunday afternoon announced major tour operators Ving, TUI and Apollo that all of their travelers in Sri Lanka has passed from the incidents and feels good, reports TT.
the 16-time had Ving still a booking as they did not get hold of. These travelers, however, should be far from Colombo and Negombo, according to TT.
https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1119863044216172544
the population profess to christianity. The country is buddhist dominated. The second largest religion is hinduism.
The christian minority is sometimes seen as a unifying force because it includes people from the country’s two major ethnic groups, the tamils and the sinhalese.
Among the foreign leaders who condemned the attack and solidariserar with the affected sri lankan people labelled the prime ministers of the regional great powers.
India’s Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Imran Khan uses very similar wording in their respective Tweets on the matter.
https://twitter.com/ImranKhanPTI/status/1119872631308718081
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