• For full details of graphics available/in preparation, see Menu -> Planners
Graphic shows locations of Sri Lankan attacks.
GN39039EN

TERRORISM

Easter Day bombs kill hundreds in Sri Lanka

By Duncan Mil

April 21, 2019 - Bomb blasts at three Sri Lankan churches and three luxury hotels killed more than 130 people and wounded hundreds of others.

An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more than 60 people had been killed in St. Sebastian’s in Katuwapitiya, north of Colombo, while at least 45 people died in Colombo, where three hotels and a church were hit.

A further 25 people were also killed in an attack on the Zion Church in Batticaloa in Eastern Province.

The seventh blast at a hotel in the southern Colombo suburb of Dehiwala killed at least two people. There were no immediate claims of responsibility.

Around 7.6 per cent of mainly Buddhist Sri Lanka is Catholic, but the religion is seen as a unifying force because it includes both Tamil and majority Sinhalese ethnic groups.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 21/04/2019; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Getty Images
Advertisement