SRI LANKA IMPOSES EMERGENCY
87 Bomb detonators were found at the main bus station
colombo — Sri Lanka said on Monday it was invoking emergency powers in the aftermath of devastating bomb attacks on hotels and churches, blamed on militants with foreign links, which killed 290 people and wounded nearly 500.
The emergency law, which gives police and the military extensive powers to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders, would go into effect at midnight local time, the president’s office said.
Colombo, the seaside capital of the Indian Ocean island, was jittery the day after the horrifying Easter Sunday attacks. Police said 87 bomb detonators were found at the city’s main bus station, while an explosive went off near a church when bomb squad officials were trying to defuse it. Scores were killed in the church on Sunday.
A night curfew went into effect at 8pm.
Government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said investigators were looking at whether the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) group had “international support” for the attacks.
Wary of stirring ethnic and religious tensions, officials have provided few details about 24 people arrested since the attacks.
“We don’t see that only a small organisation in this country can do all that,” said Senaratne.
Investigators said seven suicide bombers took part in the attacks while a government spokesman said an international network was involved. Police had received a tip-off of a possible attack on churches, but Senaratne said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had not been told of the report, dated April 11.
Sri Lanka said on Monday it believed a local militant extremist group was behind deadly suicide bomb blasts that killed nearly 300 people, as it ordered a national state of emergency beginning midnight.
Government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said investigators were looking at whether the National Thowheeth Jamaath (NTJ) group had “international support” for the deadly Easter Sunday attacks on churches and luxury hotels.
So far, 24 people have been arrested in connection with the attacks, but no details have been given about them.
Little is known about the NTJ, but documents seen by AFP show Sri Lanka’s police chief issued a warning on April 11, saying a “foreign intelligence agency” had reported the group was planning attacks on churches and the Indian high commission.
The group has previously only been linked to vandalising Buddhist statues.
“We don’t see that only a small organisation in this country can do all that,” said Senaratne of the deadly attacks.
“We are now investigating the international support for them, and their other links... how they produced the suicide bombers here, and how they produced bombs like this.”
The death toll from Sunday’s attacks rose dramatically Monday to 300 — including dozens of foreigners — in the worst atrocity since the country’s civil war ended a decade ago.
More than 500 people were injured in the assault that saw suicide bombers hit three high-end hotels popular with foreign tourists, and three churches, unleashing carnage in Colombo and beyond.
Two additional blasts were triggered as security forces carried out
raids searching for suspects.
Tensions remained high on Monday, with a bomb detonating as police prepared to defuse it near one of the churches targeted a day earlier. No injuries were reported.
Police also found 87 bomb detonators at a Colombo bus station.
President Maithripala Sirisena’s office said a state of emergency “limited to counter terrorism regulations only” would be introduced from midnight Monday (1830 GMT).
“This is being done to allow the police and the three forces to ensure public security,” the statement said, referring to the army, navy and air force.
Officials said Sirisena would ask diplomats for help investigating the blasts.
“The intelligence sections have reported that there are international terror groups which are behind the local terrorists,” the statement said. Interpol said it was deploying a team of investigators to Sri Lanka, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had spoken to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. “This is America’s fight, too,” Pompeo said.
A new curfew was in place from 8pm on Monday until 4am on Tuesday, and the US State Department warned of possible further attacks in a travel advisory update.
The attacks were the worst ever against Sri Lanka’s small Christian minority, who make up just seven percent of the 21 million population.
At least 37 foreigners were among the dead, including citizens of India, Britain, Turkey, Australia, Japan and Portugal, as well as a dual US-British passport holder.
Ethnic and religious violence has plagued Sri Lanka for decades, with a 37-year conflict with Tamil rebels followed by an upswing in recent years in clashes between the Buddhist majority and Muslims.
Traffic was uncharacteristically thin in normally bustling Colombo on Monday.
Soldiers with automatic weapons stood guard outside major hotels and the World Trade Centre in the business district.
An Australian survivor, identified only as Sam, told Australia’s 3AW radio the hotel was a scene of “absolute carnage”.
He said he and a travel partner were having breakfast at the Shangri-La when two blasts went off. He said he had seen two men wearing backpacks seconds before the blasts.
“There were people screaming and dead bodies,” he said. “Kids crying, kids on the ground, I don’t know if they were dead or not, just crazy.” —