‘Local group behind Easter carnage’
Sri Lanka declares state of emergency over blasts blamed on extremists
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka said it believed a local extremist group was behind deadly suicide bomb blasts that killed nearly 300 people as it announced a national state of emergency beginning midnight.
Government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said investigators were looking at whether the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) group had “international support” for the deadly Easter Sunday attacks on churches and luxury hotels.
Wary of stirring ethnic and religious tensions, officials have provided few details about 24 people arrested since the attacks.
Not much 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 been linked to the vandalising of Buddhist statues.
The death toll from Sunday’s attacks rose dramatically yesterday to 290 – including dozens of foreigners – in the country’s worst attacks for over a decade.
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.
As tension remained high, police on Monday said they had found 87 bomb detonators – 12 of them scattered on the ground at a bus station and another 75 in a nearby garbage dump.
The president’s office said a state of emergency “limited to counter terrorism regulations only” would be introduced.
“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.
The government information department said a new curfew would run from 8pm until 4am today.
The US State Department, meanwhile, warned of further attacks in a revised travel advisory, urging increased caution and adding: “Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Sri Lanka.”
The attacks were the worst ever carried out against Sri Lanka’s small Christian minority, who make up just seven per cent of the 21 million population.
At least 37 foreigners were among the dead, citizens of India, Britain, Turkey, Australia, Japan and Portugal, as well as a dual US-British passport holder.
Danish media are saying that three of the four children of a Danish business tycoon who is allegedly the Nordic country’s richest man and a major private landowner in Britain died in the Sri Lanka bombings
The churches targeted included St Sebastian’s in Negombo, north of the capital, which was surrounded by security forces on Monday.
Dozens of people were killed at the church, including friends of 16-year-old Primasha Fernando, who was at her home nearby when the suicide bomber struck.
“When I got to the church there were people crying and screaming,” she said.
“I saw bodies everywhere,” she added in tears. “I saw parents carrying their dead babies. I saw dead people who had hair but didn’t have faces anymore.”
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.
Dilip Fernando, who could not get into St Sebastian’s because the church was already packed when he arrived, said the Christian community would not be intimidated.
“We are not afraid. We won’t let the terrorists win,” the 66-year-old said.
Two leading Muslim groups issued statements condemning the attacks, with the All Ceylon Jamiyaathuul Ulama, a council of Muslim theologians, urging the “maximum punishment for everyone involved in these dastardly acts.”