At least 207 people were killed, including 9 foreigners, and some 450 were injured this Sunday (21.04.2019), in the bloodiest Domingo of Resurrección in Sri Lanka, after a series of simultaneous explosions in four hotels, a residential complex and three churches, where many faithful celebrated one of the great Christian festivals.
After eight explosions, the Government has declared a State of emergency and police had imposed curfew with immediate effect amid fears new attacks.
The first six explosions took place coordinated towards the 8.45 hours (2.30 GMT) in at least three luxury hotels in Colombo and also in a church in the capital, another in Katana, in the West of the country, and the third in Batticaloa in the East of the island , Gunasekara said. The seventh blast, in which there were two deaths, were recorded hours later at a small hotel situated 100 metres from the zoo in Dehiwala, a suburb located ten kilometers south of the Centre of Colombo, where it the eighth and last so far, took place in a housing complex in the area of Dermatagoda, also in the capital, while they have leaked details.
Images broadcast by local media and social networks show the magnitude of the explosion in at least one of the churches, with the roof of the semi-destroyed Temple, debris and bodies scattered while people try to rescue them.
For now, no person or armed group has claimed responsibility for the coordinated attacks, while authorities insist on pay close attention to the dissemination of false news that may cause confusion or acts of reprisal against any ethnic group or religious.
According to some media, WhatsApp, Viber, and Facebook have been blocked temporarily, while other sources indicate that mobile networks and the internet are saturated and hardly work.
“Please remain calm and you are not led astray by rumors,” said the President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, in a message to the nation, in a country in which communal clashes in reaction to violent incidents have been frequent.
The Prime Minister of the country, Ranil Wickremesinghe, headed an emergency meeting with senior members of the security forces and other members of the Government, including the Minister for economic reforms and public distribution, Harsha de Silva, who gave details of the meeting on social networking site Twitter.
The Ministry of education has announced the closure of all schools in the country tomorrow and Tuesday and from the national blood bank has been asked to citizens that they let go en masse to donate, they already had sufficient reserves.
The international community has reacted with shock at the tragedy that have long lamented the leaders and authorities of neighbouring countries, as the India, Pakistan and Indonesia, but also from the European Union (EU), Germany, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Austria and Turkey, as well as the Christian churches in the Holy land.
A bloody history
Attacks against religious minorities in the island has have been repeated in the past, the last of relevance in 2018, when the Government had to declare a State of emergency after clashes between Muslims and Sinhalese Buddhists with two to be made dead and dozens of detainees.
In Sri Lanka the Christian population represents 7.4%, while Buddhists are 70.2%, Hindus are 12.6% and Muslims 9.7%, according to data from the 2011 Census.
However, attacks of this magnitude had no place in Sri Lanka since the civil war between the tamil guerrillas and the Government, a conflict that lasted 26 years and ended in 2009, and that left more than 40,000 civilians killed according to UN data.
