Tears and troops a week after Sri Lanka attacks
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic leader condemned the Easter attacks as “an insult to humanity” as the tense, grief-stricken country marked a week since suicide bombers hit three churches and three luxury hotels.
The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, held a private mass yesterday after cancelling all public services amid fears of a repeat of the bombings that killed 253 people.
A heavily-guarded vigil was also held outside St Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo at 8.45am, the moment the bomber struck the church last week, killing dozens of worshippers.
“Today during this mass we are paying attention to last Sunday’s tragedy and we try to understand it,” the cardinal said in a chapel at his residence, where President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe were among the small congregation.
“We pray that in this country there will be peace and co-existence and understanding each other without division,” he said.
“What happened last Sunday is a great tragedy, an insult to humanity,” he added, calling for prayers for the victims.
The Sri Lankan military is still hunting around 140 Islamic Statelinked militants, authorities say, and security across the country remains high.
At 8.45am, the singing of hymns by scores of people outside St Anthony’s church stopped and the bells tolled. The hands on the tower clock are fixed at the time of the blast.
“I come to this church every Sunday, it feels like my second home,” said Dharshika Fernando, 19, fighting back tears.
“It feels like people blasted my own home.”
Thousands of Sri Lankan troops remained on the streets, guarding churches and mosques for the symbolic day.
Security forces also carried out new arrests, a day after at least 15 people were killed in a raid on an extremist hideout where suicide bombers blew themselves up.
Police said they arrested two top suspects in connection with the Easter bombings in central Nawalapitiya on Saturday night, taking the total number in detention to more than 100. — AFP