President Maithripala Sirisena joined the special Sunday Mass held under the patronage of the Archbishop of Colombo His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith at the Archbishop’s House, today (28) remembering the victims of the disastrous Easter Sunday attacks. Churches across Sri Lanka suspended Sunday mass as security concerns remained high a week after suicide bombers killed over 250 in churches and hotels across the island nation. Photo courtesy of NEWSLK
COLOMBO, April 28 (NNN-NEWSLK) – Following the terrorist attacks in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa on Easter Sunday, the Police and the Special Task Force (STF) have arrested around 100 suspects connected to the attacks in islandwide raids and search operations.
During a Police and STF joint search operation in Nindavur, Ampara yesterday, officials found an iron pellet fitted plate used in suicide-vests and switches which ignites the plates, one unregistered van, a long knife and many other items. No arrests had been made at the time of press and operations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, the driver of the leader of the Sunday attacks, Zahran Hashim, Sarif Lebbe aka Gafoor has also been arrested by the Kattankudy Police and handed over to the CID for questioning. Another suspect was also arrested yesterday, with 51 water gel explosive sticks and 215 detonators during an operation by the Navy at Ekkandi, Trincomalee.
Negombo Mayor, Mohammad Aznar was also arrested by the Police for possessing a sword, knife, a machete and 30 mobile phone batteries. Also, Colombo Municipal Councilor Noordin Mohamed Thajudeen was arrested for providing 46 swords to a religious place.
In another Police and STF joint raid on Friday, the officials also confiscated one drone camera, four CCTV cameras, 181 rods of gelignite and six rolls of detonators among other things from a safe house in the Eastern town of Sammanthurai, Kalmunai. Following the shootout between the suspects and the forces, 15 people, including three women and six children died when three men blew themselves up inside the house. Three men were found outside with gunshots.
The death toll from the attacks remains at 253 including 37 foreigners. Authorities brought the numbers down to 253 from that of 359 on Thursday reasoning that the badly mutilated bodies had been counted more than once. Sixty-one patients are being treated at the National Hospital while 18 are being treated in the intensive care unit by the yesterday evening. Over 500 persons were reportedly wounded from the attacks.
Last rites of the dead, were performed for most of the dead, at Batticaloa, Colombo and Negombo. However, by the Saturday evening, the mortuary of the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer had eight bodies which were yet to be identified. Six tourists were also among them.
SRI LANKA ON HIGH ALERT
Sri Lanka has been on high alert since the attacks on Easter Sunday, with nearly 10,000 soldiers deployed across the island to carry out searches and hunt down members of two local Islamist groups believed to have carried out the attack. Authorities have detained over 100 people since the bombings in three churches and four hotels, most of which were in the capital Colombo.
The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, held a solemn special mass from a church adjacent to his house that was broadcast live across local television and radio. “We cannot kill someone in the name of god… It is a great tragedy that happened,” the archbishop said in his sermon, attended by President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. “We extend our hand of friendship and fraternity to all our brothers and sisters of whatever class, society or religion that differentiates us.”After the sermon, the archbishop and the political leaders lit candles to commemorate the victims of the suicide bombings.
Sri Lanka’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Until now, Christians had largely managed to avoid the worst of the island’s conflict and communal tensions. The archbishop said earlier this week that he had seen an internal security document warning of further attacks on churches and said there would be no Catholic masses celebrated anywhere on the island on Sunday. Muslims had been urged to pray at home on Friday after the State Intelligence Services warned of possible car bomb attacks, amid fears of retaliatory violence. Many have fled their homes amid bomb scares, lockdowns and security sweeps.
