Latest headlines from Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan suicide bomber had been arrested before

Britain's Channel 4 interviews the Sri Lankan PM

Police Warned That Sri Lanka Churches Were Targets

NY Times,

25 April, 2019

As Christians in Sri Lanka gathered on Sunday morning to celebrate Easter Mass, powerful explosions ripped through three churchespacked with worshipers, leaving hundreds of victims amid a havoc of splintered and blood-spattered pews.

In what the police said were coordinated terrorist attacks carried out on both sides of the country by a single group, suicide bombers also struck three hotels popular with tourists. At least 207 people were killed and 450 others injured, a police spokesman, Ruwan Gunasekera, said.

News of the bombings, the largest attack on South Asian Christians in recent memory, rippled out all Easter morning, interrupting celebrations across the world. Pope Francis, after celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Square, said the attacks had “brought mourning and sorrow” on the most important of Christian holidays.

• The bombings began around 8:45 a.m., and targeted Christian houses of worship — St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, the capital; St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo; and Zion Church in Batticaloa — along with three luxury hotels: the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand, and the Kingsbury, all in Colombo.

• Thirteen suspects were held in connection with the bombings, the authorities said. Three officers were killed hunting for the attackers at a housing complex.

• A top police official alerted security officials in an advisory 10 days ago about a threat to churches from a radical Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath. But it was unclear what safeguards, if any, were taken, or if in the end the group played any role in the violence. And on Sunday, reflecting frictions within the government, the prime minister pointedly said he had not been informed.

• Sri Lanka temporarily blocked major social media and messaging services, including Facebook and WhatsApp, to curb misinformation.

• At least 35 of the dead were foreigners, several of them American, the authorities said. Others were British, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese, according to officials and news reports.

Sri Lanka orders ALL Catholic churches to suspend services in the wake of Easter bombings

Muslims in hiding in Sri Lanka as tensions rise after bombings

Sri Lanka Suicide Bombers Identified As Sons Of Wealthy Spice Merchant

Zero Hedge,

25 April, 2019

At least 700 refugees from a persecuted Islamic sect are in hiding after fleeing their homes in the Sri Lankan port city of Negombo as communal tensions soar in the aftermath of the deadly Easter Sunday bombings.

The bombings, which killed around 253 people – the death toll was revised down on Thursday by the health ministry – shattered the relative calm that has existed in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka since a civil war against mostly Hindu, ethnic Tamil separatists ended 10 years ago, and have raised fears of a return to sectarian violence.

Sri Lankan police have determined that two of the eight suicide bombers who carried out the Easter Sunday bombings, one of the deadliest terror attacks in recent memory, were the sons of one of the wealthiest businessmen in the country - a spice trader whose family lived in what the New York Times described as a "beautiful white villa" just outside of the capital, Colombo.The spice trader, Mohammad Yusuf Ibrahim, built his fortune on black pepper, white pepper, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla. He was even celebrated by Sri Lanka's former president for his "outstanding service to the nation." But that didn't stop two of his sons from joining a jihadist group and pledging their allegiance to ISIS....