Sunday, April 21, 2019

Terror attacks in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka attacks: Police warned of terror blasts 10 days earlier

Images from the scene of a one of the bomb blasts inside a church in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Picture: Twitter
 
Images from the scene of a one of the bomb blasts inside a church in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Picture: Twitter
Sri Lankan authorities have confirmed police were warned of a potential terror attack by radical Muslims 10 days ago but did not act on the intelligence.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told reporters this morning that “information was there” about possible attacks and that an investigation would look into “why adequate precautions were not taken”.
Mr Wickremesinghe said he had not been told about a warning to Sri Lanka police that suicide bombers planned to hit “prominent churches”.

The intelligence alert was sent 10 days ago to top officers from Police Chief Pujuth Jayasundara. “A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,” the alert said.
The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that was linked last year to the vandalisation of Buddhist statues.
Sri Lankan Minister of Telecommunication Harin Fernando tweeted a picture of the memo on Sunday.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade confirmed this morning that one Australian has been injured in the bomb blasts.
DFAT said in a statement: Following multiple bomb blasts in Sri Lanka, the Australian High Commission in Colombo continues to make urgent enquiries with local authorities to determine the welfare of any Australians affected.
At this stage, DFAT has not received any reports of Australian fatalities. DFAT has offered consular assistance to one Australian injured in the attacks. Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment.”
Earlier, Trade Minister Simon Birmingham told the ABC: “We are not aware of any Australians loss of life.”
It came as Colombo International Airport went into lockdown after a pipe bomb was reportedly detonated in a controlled explosion early today..
According to Sirasa News1st., the bomb was found on a road near the airport and destroyed.
Gihan Seneviratne, a spokesman from Sri Lanka’s Air Force, told the Sri Lankan Sunday Times: “A PVC pipe which was six feet in length containing explosives in it was discovered.”
Sky News journalist Neville Lazarus posted on Twitter : “Colombo International Airport in lock down. Security drill on a suspect package. Just heard a blast in the distance. Hope what ever it was was diffused / destroyed.”
The pipe bomb was found after terror returned to Sri Lanka yesterday as co-ordinated suicide blasts ripped through three churches and three high-end hotels in the nation’s capital and provincial ­cities, killing at least 207 people — including 35 foreigners — as they celebrated Easter Sunday.
After a decade of hard-won peace, near-simultaneous bombings struck Colombo’s historic St Anthony’s Church, St Sebastian’s Church in the neighbouring coastal resort town of Negombo and an evangelical church in eastern Batticaloa as parishioners were gathering for mass before 9am local time yesterday.
Relatives of a blast victim grieve outside a morgue in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Picture: AP
 
Relatives of a blast victim grieve outside a morgue in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Picture: AP
Around the same time in colonial central Colombo, the city’s Cinnamon Grand Hotel — near the Prime Minister’s residence — the Shangri-La and the Kingsbury hotels were also attacked.
Hours after the initial six bombings, two suspects being pursued by police set off devices, killing themselves. The defence ministry said last night seven suspects had been taken into custody.
A Sri Lankan Police officer inspects a blast spot at the Shangri-la. Picture: AP
 
A Sri Lankan Police officer inspects a blast spot at the Shangri-la. Picture: AP
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the strikes on a country that suffered almost three decades of terror in a civil war with Tamil Tiger separatists. The war ended in 2009.
There have also been attacks on churches from hardline Buddhist groups.
Among the dead were dozens of children attending Sunday-school classes. Americans, British and Dutch citizens were also believed killed in the blasts.
An elderly woman is helped near St. Anthony's Shrine after one of several simultaneous explosions.
 
An elderly woman is helped near St. Anthony's Shrine after one of several simultaneous explosions.
In St Sebastian’s Catholic Church alone, at least 62 people were killed in a blast that ripped through pews and destroyed the roof of the historic building.
More than 450 people were injured in the attacks that sparked long queues outside Colombo’s National Blood Bank centre yesterday by locals wanting to give blood for the wounded.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena urged people to remain calm, while Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe strongly condemned the “cowardly attacks”.
Sri Lankan police officers clear the road as an ambulance drives through carrying the injured. Picture: AP
 
Sri Lankan police officers clear the road as an ambulance drives through carrying the injured. Picture: AP
A nationwide curfew was imposed, social media and messaging services shut down, and police and military blocked streets and guarded churches, ­temples and mosques.
Scott Morrison condemned the “horrific terrorist attack” but could not confirm whether any Australians had been caught up in the blasts because information at hand was “too inconclusive”.
“At this time, as Easter Sunday draws to a conclusion here in Australia, our heart goes out to those Christians and all the other innocents who have been slaughtered today in this horrific terrorist ­attack,’’ the Prime Minister said.
Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) personnel gesture outside a house after a suicide blast had killed police searching the property. Picture: AFP
 
Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) personnel gesture outside a house after a suicide blast had killed police searching the property. Picture: AFP
Bill Shorten and Labor foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong condemned the “despicable targeted attacks”, which they described as an “assault on our common humanity”.
A manager at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel told last night how a suicide bomber had waited pat­iently in a queue for the Easter Sunday breakfast buffet before setting off explosives strapped to his back. Carrying a plate, the man was just about to be served when he set off his bomb in the packed restaurant. “There was utter chaos,” said the manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “He came up to the top of the queue and set off the blast.”
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said the high commission in Colombo was “making urgent inquiries with local authorities to determine the welfare of any Australians affected” by the attacks.
The Catholic bishop of Batti­caloa, Joseph Ponniah, heard the blast at the Zion evangelical church, 100m away from his rooms. At least 30 people were killed there. Most were children under 12.
“There are a lot of Christians in Batticaloa ... but we all live in peace here; Muslims, Catholics, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus,” he told The Australian. “We are all living together.”
An inside view of the St Anthony's Shrine after an explosion hit. Picture: Getty
 
An inside view of the St Anthony's Shrine after an explosion hit. Picture: Getty

Amanda Hodge

South East Asia Correspondent
Amanda Hodge is The Australian’s South East Asia correspondent. Based in Jakarta, she has covered war, refugees, terror attacks, natural disasters and social and political upheaval from Afghanistan to Sri Lanka...