Truck bomb in Somalia, 2017 - 512 A truck bomb explodes in a busy commercial district of the capital Mogadishu on October 14, killing 512 people, according to the official toll. Getty Death toll reaches at least 290 people At least 290 people were killed and hundreds more injured in the blasts, pitching the South Asian island nation into the worst chaos it has seen since a bloody civil war ended a decade ago. Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has convened Sri Lanka's top military officials at an emergency meeting of the National Security Council following a series of Easter Sunday blasts. He also says the Burka has previously been identified as a commonly-used tool of terrorists when carrying out bombing attacks - in order to hide the assailant's identities and weapons. Following the bombings that have crippled Sri Lanka, cops found 87 detonators at a bus station yesterday.
I say again we will take stern action to apprehend, arrest and even open fire and use minimum or maximum powers given under emergency laws. The Manchester School: Practice and Ethnographic Praxis in Anthropology. The Shangri-La Hotel bomber was identified by police as Insan Seelavan, a factory owner, nine of whose employees have been arrested. Speaking from the loggia of St. He touched my granddaughter's head on the way past. They discovered three bombs that they tried to defuse, but the bombs detonated, sending pedestrians fleeing in panic.
Millionaire hedge fund manager Matthew, 61, miraculously survived, suffering cuts to his face. The Armed Forces will not hesitate to use our powers to curb, curtail and contain the situation. Theravada Buddhism is Sri Lanka's biggest religion, accounting for about 70% of the population. Please avoid propagating unverified reports and speculation. All of the bombers were Sri Lankan citizens, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said at a news conference. Burials were expected to begin for some of the dead on Tuesday.
Hindus and Muslims make up around 12% and 10% of the population respectively. A legal representative appearing on behalf of the suspects stated that the magistrate nor his client needs to wait for the police to complete its investigations for the magistrate to make a decision on the matter, the allegations made by the Wellampitiya Police officers do not have a proper basis in law. Sri Lanka's foreign minister says 27 foreigners have been confirmed dead and five still missing. The All Ceylon Jammiyyathul Ulama a body of Muslim clerics, says targeting Christian places of worship cannot be accepted. The official says at least two of the blasts were suspected to have been caused by suicide bombers.
This included cabinet ministers , , and ; state ministers , , and and Deputy Minister. Only around six percent of mainly Buddhist Sri Lanka is Catholic, but the religion is seen as a unifying force because it includes people from both the Tamil and majority Sinhalese ethnic groups. He had blood all over him but he was not injured, apart from a small cut to his ear. In a speech delivered in parliament, former president and current opposition leader slammed the government for weakening the intelligence services over the years. The , an body representing several major Christian traditions, expressed sentiments of solidarity with the Christians of Sri Lanka.
The system known as the Centralised and Integrated Population Information System will collect biometric data from iris scanning and facial identification at all ports of entry and exit. Daniel Linsey, 19 and his younger sister Amelie, 15, were having breakfast with their father Matthew at the luxury Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo before their flight home. Breaching any emergency law is punishable by a maximum penalty of death, a recently reinstated penalty which has not been used for more than four decades. He claimed the present government is squarely responsible for the 2019 Easter bombings, stating that on an important occasion such as Easter, representatives of the government usually attend Mass; on this occasion, no representatives were present in or near churches. In 2018, a band of Buddhist extremists lit Muslim homes and businesses on fire in an incident that ended with two Muslims dead and a government-imposed a state of emergency. Hashim was featured in a video released by Amaq purporting to show eight of the suicide bombers. Of these, about three-fourths are ethnic Sinhalese, most of whom are Buddhist.
An additional 19 foreign nationals have been injured. The attacks are claimed by Al-Qaeda. Please avoid propagating unverified reports and speculation. A doctor at the Lady Ridgeway Children hospital in Colombo told the Telegraph that a number of children had arrived alone. On 14 May, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that all necessary powers to restore peace and stability to the country had been given to security forces and police. Islamic State also released a video purportedly showing their leader praising the attackers and claiming the attacks were revenge for the loss of Baghouz in Syria.
By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Sri Lanka News — Newsfirst. On 16 April a parked motorcycle in Kattankudy carrying explosives detonated without casualties during a lightning storm. We extend our deepest condolences to those who have lost loved ones and all those affected by this senseless tragedy. The suicide bomber who struck at the Taprobane restaurant in the Cinnamon Grand hotel had checked into the hotel with a false name the night before, claiming to be on a business trip. Investigators believe the Sri Lankan attack was 'retaliation'.
The in , a Protestant congregation, was also bombed. His wife has been arrested. Accordingly, the Christian voters believed that Gotabaya would be able to tackle the Sri Lankan Muslims the same way he ended the Tamil insurgency in 2009. Serious action needs to be taken as to why this warning was ignored. Most of them are friends and family of the suspected suicide bombers. Asian Security Order: Instrumental and Normative Features.
The Unspeakable Truths : Confronting State Terror and Atrocity. Wickremesinghe tweeted a statement condemning the attacks and requesting unity: I strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today. During the election campaign, the divisive political leaders fed Christians the narrative that the Muslim community at large is to be blamed for the Easter Sunday bombings. The attacks were also the worst ever against the country's small Christian minority, who make up just seven percent of the 21 million population. The state of emergency, which gave police and the military special powers to counter militant strikes, came into force at midnight.