Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
LAST UPDATE | 23 Apr 2019
AN INITIAL PROBE into deadly suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka that killed more than 300 people shows it was “retaliation for Christchurch,” the country’s deputy defence minister has said.
“The preliminary investigations have revealed that what happened in Sri Lanka was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch,” state minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardene told parliament.
Fifty people were killed in shooting attacks on two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch on 15 March.
The development came after Sri Lankan police announced that the death toll from the string of suicide bomb attacks that rocked the country on Easter Sunday has risen to 310.
A police spokesman confirmed that more people died as a result of their injuries overnight, and that around 500 people in total were wounded in the blasts.
He added that 40 people were now under arrest in connection with the attacks, which Sri Lanka has blamed on the little-known Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath.
The powerful blasts – six in quick succession and then two more hours later – wrought devastation at churches and hotels in and near the capital Colombo.
The attacks are the worst atrocity since Sri Lanka’s civil war ended a decade ago.
Dozens of foreigners were among those killed, and three minutes of silence were held to honour the victims from 8.30am local time, the time of the first bomb blast.
A number of memorial services for the victims have been planned, hours after the government imposed a state of emergency.
The attacks were also the worst ever against the country’s small Christian minority, who make up just seven percent of its population of 21 million.
Investigators are now searching for clues on whether National Thowheeth Jama’ath received “international support”, a government spokesman said.
President Maithripala Sirisena’s office said that there was intelligence that “international terror groups” were “behind local terrorists” and that he would seek foreign help to investigate.
A state of emergency, which has given police and the military special powers to counter militant strikes, came into force at midnight local time last night.
A second night-time curfew was also put in place, but lifted before dawn.
A bomb discovered by police on Monday near one of the targeted churches blew up before police could defuse it, although no injuries were reported.
Police also found 87 bomb detonators at a Colombo bus station yesterday.
Danish billionaire
Meanwhile, details have begun to emerge about some of the foreigners killed in the attacks.
The United States reported that at least four Americans were killed – including a child – while the Netherlands confirmed that three of its citizens also died.
The Danish billionaire who founded online fashion retailer Asos lost three of his four children, a spokesman for his company said.
Meanwhile, eight Britons, eight Indians and nationals from Turkey, Australia, France, Japan and Portugal, were also killed, according to Sri Lankan officials and foreign governments.
With reporting from - © AFP 2019
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Not fake news, but filtered news!
Where is the outrage that was on display after the attacks in New Zealand? Have the Sri Lankians banned guns yet? Have they passed hate crime laws?
Is it possible that we are witnessing an enormous double standard here?
@Peter Buchanan:
I wonder does the New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinta Ardern, still don her Hijab?
@Peter Buchanan: It is a shocking loss of life and an awful atrocity carried out by Islamic jihadists, against other people because of their christian religious beliefs, targeting their places of worship as well as other locations, I seriously doubt that Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will attend any Christian memorial service wearing a crucifix around his neck, regardless of the genuine sympathy he may feel for the victims.
The gun laws in Sri Lanka are very strict, but many firearms are in circulation illegally due to the conflict that raged in Sri Lanka for years, there are those that would gladly disarm the population using this or anything else as justification, but it is unlikely to receive the same level of knee jerk support that it did in New Zealand.
@Peter Buchanan: pretty sure that bombs are already banned.
@David Van-Standen: why would he wear a crucifix? Did the new Zealand prime minister set the benchmark for political popularity points from terroristic massacres?
“I seriously doubt that Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will attend any Christian memorial service”
From what I have read, it is likely that Prime Minster Ranil Wickremesinghe is Christian by birth. His paternal uncle, Lakshman Wickramasinghe, was Bishop of the Anglican Church of Sri Lanka and a human rights activist. He keeps private life to himself, can’t show that he favours on religion over another in a religiously and ethnically diverse country. Indeed, his political opponents have criticised him for being a closet Christian and not supporting Buddhists.
Prime Minster Wickremesinghe attended annual feast of Our Lady of Madhu in October last year, becoming the second state leader to participate in the feast.
http://www.ft.lk/news/PM-promotes-peace-and-reconciliation-at-annual-feast-of-Madhu-Church/56-661033
@Peter Buchanan: that’s exactly what we are witnessing
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: she’s very popular among the Muslim population for doing it I know that
@Damien Barton: for consoling victims of a terror attack in the country she leads? Wow, shocking!
@Peter Buchanan: Christians are fair game. Just don’t insult or ‘offend’ muslims
Why are media outlets not calling this for what it is, an Islamic terrorist attack?
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy:
And still we have many people in our country – a majority of those in power – more outraged by a few words criticising or offending the sacred religion than the bloody acts of violence and murder being continually and horrendously perpetrated in its name.
No other religion inspires murder and massacre of innocent people on anything like the same scale. Those in charge of that religion, indeed all of us, should be worrying about and concentrating on the reasons why their religion inspires and justifies such bloody violence.
When a few harmless words are said against their religion, we never stop hearing from them. Yet when serious violent deeds are committed in the name of their religion, they pretend their religion has nothing to do with it and their collective silence is deafening.
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: why do you need a “label”? Is calling it a tragedy not enough?
@Phil Byrne: kinda ironic as you just gave it a ”label” yourself.
@The Quare Fella: agreed! Their community and imrans do little to nothing in trying to tackle extremist issues from the inside.
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: Imran was Jesus’s grandfather, I think the word you’re looking for is imam.
@Dave O’Keeffe: on the ball Dave! My islamic knowledge is slightly worse than my christian knowledge.
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: because Islamic terrorism is non existant, it`s a religion of peace.
@The Quare Fella: Not true. The Bible God commanded a lot of violence against women in particular. While there may be a problem with Koran abetting violence, Muslims get singled out.
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: completely false. The Muslim community have very active programmes for tackling extremists. They have imans that educate worshippers on how to spot the signs of radicalisation and channels in which family members with concerns can report to. They also run very successful programmes which are run by the women of the community who offer maternal guidence and support. Schools in some counties also run very successful anti radicalisation programmes which focus on ensuring young people are kept busy and interested in life and education to help prevent vulnerable youngsters becoming targets. The actual Muslim community are very aware of extremism and radicalisation and are doing whatever is in their power to fight it. Yet when Lisa smiths colleagues reported their concerns to her superiors they were told they would be brought up on bullying charges. I think you will find it’s westerners that have their heads firmly stuck in the sand and struggle to understand anything outside their own bubble.
@Bee Johnson: Do you have any sources for the very successful programmes you are referring to? – I would genuinely like to read up on them.
I understand their communities are aware of extremism (bit hard not to be in this day and age), my concern is not enough is being done to counter the crimes of extremism. Perhaps westeners may be ignorant to anything outside their own bubble, particularly when foreign nationals enter the westerners bubble and refuse to integrate/bring along their extreme ideologies (not in the case of Sri Lanka but in countless other cases of extremism).
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: Well there’s 2 billion of them and the very vast majority aren’t extremists. Seems pretty successful. You seem to think Islam is new to the western world, grab a history book.
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: yes theres a couple of very good audiable documentaries on Audible that discuss it. One was called “What were they thinking” which specifically discusses from a psychology point of view why young teenages and most often males get caught up in this type of behavoiur and why they are so easily lead. I can’t think of the others off the top of my head but if you google deradicalisation I’m sure you will be lead to plenty of sources. Theres also a psychology podcast programme called psychology today which has covered that issue many times.
Regarding integration we’re not so good at that oursleves , its human nature to keep to your own kind, the irish do it all the time. Extreme ideologies however is a completely different matter and has nothing to do with ones colour regligion or creed, we have our own cohort of extremist thugs that blend into our society and hide behind the banner of republicanism or religion. There lies my point “they blend” so you don’t point the finger and assume what they are because of how they are dressed or the colour of their skin, but they are there none the less. We have a mix of nationalities around here and regardless of what they wear or where they worship they fit into our community just the same as everyone else. As a border town there are also plenty of our home grown terrorists, they are the ones I stay clear of.
“Half of British Muslims want gay sex to be made illegal, according to a new poll.The survey for Channel 4 found there was a “chasm” between views among the British Muslim community and mainstream opinion in this country.
“It found 52 per cent of Muslims said homosexuality should not be legal in Britain. Of more than 1,000 British Muslims polled by ICM, 39 per cent agreed “wives should always obey their husbands”, and 31 per cent said it was acceptable for a man to have more than one wife.
“The survey also found 23 per cent said they supported the introduction of sharia law in Britain.
“Trevor Phillips, the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, who interpreted the survey for a documentary to be broadcast this week, said: “The integration of Britain’s Muslims will probably be the hardest task we’ve ever faced.”
British press, April 2016.
also…
“The 615-page survey found that more than 100,000 British Muslims sympathize with suicide bombers and people who commit other terrorist acts. Moreover, only one in three British Muslims (34%) would contact the police if they believed that somebody close to them had become involved with jihadists.”
Gatestone Institute survey of British Muslim attitudes, April 2016
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7861/british-muslims-survey
@Dave O’Keeffe: Thanks for pointing out the stats which are general knowledge to a 5 year old. I’ll grab a history book while you grab a geography book.
@Dave O’Keeffe: Thanks for pointing out the stats which are general knowledge to a 5 year old. I’ll grab a history book while you grab a geography book.
@Bee Johnson: Thanks for that, I would be interested to study some case studies on successful deradicalization!
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: sorry mate, didn’t realise you were under 5
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: the US also use deradicalisation programmes. The person is still convicted of any crimes committed but instead of leaving them in a prison where they are likely to become a bigger problem they put them through this daily therapy to deradicalise. I find it all very fascinating when you look at it with an open mind.
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: maybe all this one sided media stuff is designed to start an ideology war!!!
It’s working… learn to grow your own fkn food and don the garden proud. Way more satisfying and a good life skill.
@The Quare Fella: the gatestone institute is a right wing anti-muslim think tank https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/gatestone-institute/
@Dave O’Keeffe: That was terrible lad.
What about the 120 Christians that were massacred in Nigeria the week before NZ, what was that in retaliation for?
@Alternative for Ireland: Who are you talking to?
@Damien Barton: Dry yer eyes mate!
@Orla Smith: Orla/Tariq/Liam/Paddington is on to defend it’s poisonous religion. Good luck with that bud. (Smiley face)
@David Washington: I’m an atheist, just aghast at all the virtue signallers on here, trying to outdo each other on their soap boxes. You need to watch less cartoons.
@Orla Smith: yes Orla f**k off
@Orla Smith: Ye sure
@David Washington: You showed me! :)
@Alternative for Ireland: now tell me, were they killed because of their faith or was it another issue? I mean we all agree that killing is wrong. There’s no need for you to mischaracterise a land and natural resources conflict in several areas of Nigeria as one incident of faith based slaughter.
@Orla Smith: and here comes Orla………. Kind of you to mention you are an atheist for the one hundred time. How about you let us all in on your feminist views as usual?
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: mute her, I did it ages ago. Seriously, she’s just an obvious troll.
@The ‘Notorious’ Fanboy: *hundredth. G’way now and scream at the clouds on your fake ‘paid for followers’ McGregor Twitter account, sad!!!!!
They were blowing up a lot of Christian church’s long before NZ
@Cormac Ó Braonáin:
If you think islamic extremism started when the US invaded Iraq you’re either completely deluded or so blinkered in your hatred of the west that you’ve completely lost touch with reality.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin:
The conflict between Islam and Christianity has been going on for centuries, grab s history book or two on the subject ffs.
@The Great Unwashed: if you don’t think these attacks(of both Christian extremists/radical Islamophobes, and Islamist attacks) have exponentially increased since the countless massacres of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians by the US, UK, France and their western puppets from 2003 onwards, then you’re not the sharpest crayon in your lunchbox.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: while I’m not necessarily disagreeing with you social media also exploded in the time since the Iraq invasion. And what’s sily about your post is that you start 2 years after 9/11
Hillary Clinton after Christchurch:”my heart breaks for New Zealand & the global Muslim community. We must continue to fight the perpetuation and normalisation of islamophobia and racism in all its forms. White supremacist terrorises must be condemned by leaders everywhere. Their murderous haters must be stopped”
Hillary Clinton after Sri Lanka: “On this holy weekend for many faiths, we must stand united against hatred and violence. I’m praying for everyone affected by by today’s horrific attached on Easter worshippers and travellers in Sri Lanka”
@Neville Bartos: What’s your point?
@Annie Citric: If you have to ask well……
@Annie Citric: he hasn’t one.
@Neville Bartos: did she by any chance make that statement before the perpetrators affiliation was confirmed? Either way, she condemned both.
@Dave O’Keeffe: we all knew a few minutes after the report started coming in who committed it. Don’t allow current orthadoxy rule your thinking
@Ger Mhaidhc: those, rightly or wrongly, in a position of authority must wait for confirmation and at the same time can’t say nothing.
@Neville Bartos: That’s one of the reasons Trump was elected: He calls Islamic terrorism for what it is. No mealy mouthed words from him
Deafening silence as usual from all the worlds Islamic leaders, wont see any of them parading around wearing crosses showing solidarity with Christians worldwide.
Since when have Jihadis needed an excuse for a massacre?
Thats not retaliation, thats just using one horrible act to justify another and diffuse the blame. You cant seriously think they managed to gather all those munitions, organise the amount of people they needed and to plan and coordinate this level of attack within that short period. This or similar was coming anyway.
World war is on its way , I reckons
Aren’t religions a great excuse for all sorts of inhumane actions?
@Stephen McManus: no it’s humans. They use all sorts of disguises to hide their brutality. Political ideology, religion, environmentalism, consumerism etc. They will even do it with sport.
@Dan Jacobson: true, all human inventions that involve people picking, or being born into, a side.
Not one
Trump tweeted his heartfelt condolences from the people of America to the people of Sri Lanka on the horrible terrorist attacks on churches & hotels that have killed at least 138 million people & badly injured 600 more. We stand ready to help!
@Colette Kearns: MAGA
@Colette Kearns: far to coherent for his words. Somebody must have wrote it for him.
People giving out about the level of condemnation, what do the nuts want? Attention, fear, and panic. The difference between the reaction to this and the reaction the Christchurch is that Christchurch can be used as a recruitment tool by these nuts and that is why there was a massive rush to condemn and to support the victims and the wider Muslim community. So the fundamentalists can’t say “look, they don’t care, they want this to happen”
@Dave O’Keeffe: They want the world to hate non-white people as much as they do. Lets not pretend that the far right actually care about hypocrisy or balanced media coverage.
@Rochelle: Nail on the head, all these Alt-Right trolls abusing a story of a tragic massacre so they can regurgitate their racism and Islamophobia from Twitter on The Journal.
@Rochelle: wow. Every time an attack happens these days people like you make the same attacks. Takes a mental jump to understand your world view. This is a sad day and none of the “race” you are attacking are even involved.
@Rochelle:
Islamism, Islamists, Islamic terrorists are all considered ultra conservative and far right, bit of a head scratcher for you, ehhh Rochelle?
@Rochelle: I certainly wasn’t talking about, nor did I mention the people you’re talking about
Colombo isn’t the capital city of Sri Lanka.
Christchurch killer wasn’t even religious, but hey hope the vestal virgins are nice.
T
I just came here to read comments saying “Where’s the outage for this and that” bla bla bla
@john: good I hope your enjoying it all
@Damien Barton: it is definitely meeting my expectations
@john: They’re a gas bunch aren’t they? They can’t just leave a simple message of condolence, have to dribble on with empty virtue signalling rhetoric, paragraphs of the stuff, must be some kind of award we don’t know about?
have your say