Victims of the Easter massacre
As 207 are killed in terror attacks on Christians at Sri Lankan churches and luxury hotels, British father’s desperate search for wife and two children
A BRITISH mother and her two children were feared dead in the Sri Lanka terror attacks last night.
Anita Nicholson, 42, her husband Ben, 43, and their son Alex and daughter Annabel were on holiday in Colombo when the country was
hit by a series of suicide bombs on Easter Sunday.
The family were staying at the ShangriLa hotel in the capital – one of six targets in the attacks – when one of the bombers detonated explosives in its Table One cafe at breakfast time. At least 207 people were killed – including five Britons – and at least 450 injured in the atrocities.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but 13 suspects had been arrested last night. There is speculation
it might be the work of a terror group linked to Islamic State – the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), a relatively unknown radical Islamist group.
Three of the near-simultaneous blasts targeted worshippers attending Easter services on the holiest day in the Christian calendar.
Families on holiday were massacred by three further explosions at luxury hotels in Colombo as they sat down to enjoy breakfast at around 8.30am.
Last night security forces carried out a controlled explosion on a 6ft pipe bomb, filled with explosives, which was discovered at Colombo’s Katunayake airport.
Moments before the bloody carnage unfolded at the five star Shangri-La hotel, former Londoner Nisanga Mayadunne posted a picture online showing her enjoying ‘Easter breakfast with family’.
Tragically just minutes after the University of London graduate put the family photo on Facebook, she was killed alongside her popular Sri Lankan TV chef mother Shantha.
It is thought that lawyer Mr Nicholson’s young family were caught in the same explosion.
An appeal asking for information about Mr Nicholson’s 12-year-old son Alex was circulating on Facebook after the blast. Last night, amid the desperate search for news about the family, there were fears the father was the only survivor. One relative in Essex would only say: ‘It’s all still very raw.’
A spokesman for the Shangri-La Distraught: A relative of a victim at St Anthony’s Shrine hotel confirmed the Nicholson April 2012. At the luxury Cinnamon family had all been staying there Grand hotel, also in Colombo, and had been caught up in the another suicide bomber patiently tragedy. There was no official confirmation lined up for a breakfast buffet from local police or the before detonating explosives as he Foreign Office about the Nicholsons was about to be served, a hotel last night. manager said.
The family, who are originally The terrorist had a plate in one from Upminster, Essex, were hand and had just reached the believed to have been living in Singapore front of the queue when he triggered where Mr Nicholson works. the device strapped to his
Mrs Nicholson was a former legal back. ‘There was utter chaos,’ said adviser to the Treasury in London one hotel worker. from 1998 to 2010, according to her ‘He came up to the top of the online CV, and relocated to Singapore queue and set off the blasts. One to work for oil giant BP in of our managers who was weland coming guests was among those killed instantly.’
In Colombo, St Anthony’s Shrine, a Roman Catholic church, the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La, and
‘There was utter chaos’
Kingsbury hotels were targeted in the first wave of explosions.
Other blasts hit St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a majority Catholic city north of Colombo, Zion Church in the eastern city of Batticaloa.
Panic spread to other churches in Colombo and across the island as news spread of the bloodshed.
Britain’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, James Dauris, was worshipping at a church in Colombo where the service was halted as a precaution, he said.
‘The Easter Day service my family and I were at in Colombo today was cut short following explosions in churches and hotels,’ Mr Dauris wrote on Twitter.
‘Our prayers are for the victims of
these evil attacks, and for their families.’
Disturbing footage showed the chaotic minutes after the blast which completely destroyed the roof of St Anthony’s.
A statue of the Virgin Mary could be seen broken in two while a statue of Jesus was splattered in blood as children cried by the lifeless bodies of their parents.
Last night the country went into lockdown amid worrying reports there had been missed opportunities to stop the carefully planned bombings. Prime Minister Theresa May joined leaders across the world in condemning the atrocities while President Donald Trump vowed to ‘stand ready to help’.
‘ The acts of violence against churches and hotels in Sri Lanka are truly appalling, and my deepest sympathies go out to all of those affected at this tragic time,’ he said.
‘We must stand together to make sure that no one should ever have to practise their faith in fear,’ Mrs May said. Pope Francis denounced the ‘cruel violence’ of the Easter Sunday attacks and urged prayer for all those affected. Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned ‘ the cowardly attacks on our people’.
Within hours of the initial six blasts there were two more explosions on the outskirts of the capital as police moved in on the suspected terrorist safe house. In all 13 suspects were arrested.
The Easter attacks are the worst bloodshed Sri Lanka has seen since its brutal civil war ended a decade ago.
A nationwide curfew was imposed to prevent further attacks and all social media including Facebook and messaging service WhatsApp were shut down.
At least 35 foreigners were among the dead – five Britons as well as at least two Americans, three Danes, and nationals from Portugal, Holland and China.
The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, called on the government to punish the terrorists ‘mercilessly, because only animals can behave like that’.
Hundreds rushed to donate blood in the capital, leading the health ministry to ask people to remain home as reserves were full. The idyllic island of Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon, attracts a quarter of a million British visitors a year.
The British High Commission in Colombo last night set up an emergency hotline for those in Britain to check on family and friends in Sri Lanka. Tourists trying to leave the country were told to report to the airport at least four hours before their flight, but no flights in or out have been cancelled.
INNOCENT people slaughtered by terrorist bombs as they pray in church or enjoy a holiday breakfast at their hotel – and on easter sunday, the day that for all christians should be one of celebration and hope.
like the massacre of Muslims in the New Zealand city of christchurch, events in sri lanka yesterday cut across religious and ethnic divides, bringing decent people together in shared revulsion and pity.
Murdering people simply for their religious beliefs is an act of unmitigated wickedness, and condemnation should be equal in all such cases, no matter the faith involved.
But perhaps this is a moment to reflect particularly on the suffering endured by christians in the modern world – a phenomenon that is sometimes overlooked.
The names of the christians who died in the sri lankan bombings while marking the resurrection of their saviour are now added to some 4,000 others killed last year, simply because of their faith. Globally, some 245million christians endure oppression of some kind.
As Foreign secretary Jeremy hunt has pointed out, the christian community in the Middle east has shrunk in a century from 20 per cent of the population to below 5 per cent.
Mr hunt warns against allowing guilt over a colonial past or fear of offending minorities to dull this country’s condemnation of outrages against christians around the globe, particularly the voiceless and downtrodden.
he is right to do so.