What you know and don't know about the bloody Sri Lankan massacre
The death toll from the deadly Sri Lankan bombings has risen. Police say 60 people have been arrested. The government, acknowledging shortcomings in the security apparatus, has admitted it received warnings about attacks on churches 10 days before the incident.
The death toll in the Sri Lankan bombings has risen to 359. The number of injured has also risen to more than 500. Sri Lankan police have announced the arrest of around 60 suspects. Information on the background of the suicide bombers is still being completed.
Sri Lankan police announced on Wednesday, April 24, that the death toll from the Sri Lanka attacks has risen to 359.
According to the German-language news site Tagesschau, Sri Lankan parliament speaker Lakshman Kerila said 60 people have been arrested in connection with the attacks so far. He predicted the number of suspects could reach 100.
Sri Lankan police have identified eight of the nine suicide bombers. Sri Lankan Defense Minister Rowan Wijeratne said one of the attackers was a woman.
According to the Guardian newspaper, one of the Mahajans studied in Britain and Australia, and many of them have lived abroad.
Sri Lankan Easter Sunday Massacre
The massacre followed multiple explosions at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday, April 21, which coincided with Easter Sunday.
The attacks began with six almost simultaneous explosions that targeted three churches and three hotels in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.
Hours later, two more explosions occurred in areas outside Colombo, police said. Police reports indicated that the eighth explosion was a suicide attack.
Security officials said a bomb was also defused near Colombo International Airport.
The Amaq news agency, affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) group, said Sunday's attacks in Sri Lanka were the work of its members. The website released a video in which it claimed that the seven suicide bombers in Sri Lanka had pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Initial investigations by the Sri Lankan government indicate that the deadly Sri Lankan attacks were planned to "revenge the attacks on two mosques in New Zealand."
Forty days ago, an Australian far-right extremist attacked two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, and fifty people lost their lives in the massacre.
Sri Lankan speculation about the incident
The Sri Lankan government had previously identified an Islamist group called the National Thowheed Jamaat as the perpetrator of the Sri Lankan massacre, but the group has not yet responded to this accusation.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe points to evidence suggesting possible links to international networks to carry out these attacks.
He said that given the scale and scope of Sunday's explosions, these attacks were most likely carried out in connection and cooperation with an international foreign terror network.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also added that "foreign links" were possible as the attackers had recently been abroad.
Warning about attacks on churches
The Sri Lankan government has admitted that ten days before the bloody Easter massacre, a foreign security agency had warned Sri Lankan security officials about possible attacks on churches by the National Thowheed Jamaat group.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, in his first public address since the massacre on Sunday, acknowledged shortcomings in the security system and promised fundamental changes to the system.
Sri Lankan government criminal investigations have so far determined that most of the attacks were carried out by a single attacker, except for the attack on the luxury Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, which was carried out by two male attackers.
Further investigation into a possible connection between the Easter Sunday massacre and the Christchurch mosque attacks is ongoing, and the Sri Lankan government has not yet provided further details to substantiate this possibility.
Source: DW
