Mass murder in Colombo

PM Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the violence could trigger instability in the country and its economy

Terror has reared its ugly head in Sri Lanka again. At least 207 people were killed and hundreds more injured in eight blasts that rocked high-end hotels and churches in and just outside the country’s capital on Sunday as worshippers attended Easter services. Witnesses described the scenes at multiple locales as one of utter turmoil as distraught relatives wailed and screamed over the loss of their loved ones.  This latest atrocity has pushed the South Asian island nation into the worst chaos it has seen since a bloody civil war ended a decade ago. Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena says most of the eight blasts are suspected suicide attacks carried out by ‘religious extremists’, though no one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosions. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the violence could trigger instability in the country and its economy.

The scale of Sunday’s bloodshed harked back to the horror days of the war, when the Tamil Tigers set off explosions at the country’s central bank in Colombo, a busy shopping mall, an important Buddhist temple and tourist hotels. Wickremesinghe said his government would ‘vest all necessary powers with the defense forces to take action against those responsible’ for Sunday’s attacks, ‘regardless of their stature.’ The nearly simultaneous first six blasts Sunday morning toppled ceilings and blew out windows at a famous Catholic church in Colombo, the capital, and at three luxury hotels in the city. Three police officers were killed while conducting a search operation at a suspected safe house on the outskirts of Colombo. As the police moved in, at least two more blasts occurred, with the occupants of the safe house apparently blasting explosives to prevent arrest.

Shops were closed and streets deserted in Colombo even before the government imposed a nationwide curfew from 6 pm to 6 am. Sri Lanka’s foreign secretary, Ravinath Aryasinghe, said the bodies of 27 foreigners were also recovered from the blast sites. Pope Francis, US secretary-general Antonio Guterres, and world leaders, including our own prime minister, have expressed outrage at the mass murder in the tiny nation and appealed for calm.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2019.

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