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'Several' Americans among 290 killed in Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka
A string of bombings at churches, luxury hotels and other sites on Easter Sunday killed at least 290 people, including "several" Americans, in a suspected act of terror on the South Asian island of Sri Lanka.
No one had claimed responsibility for the attacks by early Monday local time, though police said 13 suspects had been arrested. Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena said he believed the bombings were suicide attacks carried out by religious extremists.
A police spokesman said more than 500 people were injured.
"The United States condemns in the strongest terms the terror attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter morning," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement released by the State Department. "Attacks on innocent people gathering in a place of worship or enjoying a holiday meal are affronts to the universal values and freedoms that we hold dear, and demonstrate yet again the brutal nature of radical terrorists whose sole aim is to threaten peace and security."
The investigation into Sunday's bombings will examine reports that the intelligence community failed to detect or warn of possible suicide attacks before the violence, police said.
Six nearly simultaneous explosions hit hotels and churches as worshipers gathered for Easter services in the cities of Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa,. Hours later, there were two more blasts, one at a guesthouse that killed two people and another near an overpass in the area of Dematagoda on the outskirts of the capital of Colombo, according to a Sri Lankan military spokesman, Brig. Sumith Atapattu.
“People were being dragged out,” said Bhanuka Harischandra, of Colombo, a 24-year-old founder of a tech marketing company who was going to the city’s Shangri-La Hotel for a meeting when it was bombed. “People didn’t know what was going on. It was panic mode.”
He added: “There was blood everywhere.”
In a ninth explosion, three police officers were killed during a search at a suspected safe house on the outskirts of Colombo when its occupants apparently detonated explosives to prevent arrest, authorities said.
A string of bombings at churches, luxury hotels and other sites on Easter Sunday killed at least 290 people, including "several" Americans, in a suspected act of terror on the South Asian island of Sri Lanka.
No one had claimed responsibility for the attacks by early Monday local time, though police said 13 suspects had been arrested. Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardena said he believed the bombings were suicide attacks carried out by religious extremists.
A police spokesman said more than 500 people were injured.
"The United States condemns in the strongest terms the terror attacks in Sri Lanka on Easter morning," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement released by the State Department. "Attacks on innocent people gathering in a place of worship or enjoying a holiday meal are affronts to the universal values and freedoms that we hold dear, and demonstrate yet again the brutal nature of radical terrorists whose sole aim is to threaten peace and security."
The investigation into Sunday's bombings will examine reports that the intelligence community failed to detect or warn of possible suicide attacks before the violence, police said.
Six nearly simultaneous explosions hit hotels and churches as worshipers gathered for Easter services in the cities of Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa,. Hours later, there were two more blasts, one at a guesthouse that killed two people and another near an overpass in the area of Dematagoda on the outskirts of the capital of Colombo, according to a Sri Lankan military spokesman, Brig. Sumith Atapattu.
“People were being dragged out,” said Bhanuka Harischandra, of Colombo, a 24-year-old founder of a tech marketing company who was going to the city’s Shangri-La Hotel for a meeting when it was bombed. “People didn’t know what was going on. It was panic mode.”
He added: “There was blood everywhere.”
In a ninth explosion, three police officers were killed during a search at a suspected safe house on the outskirts of Colombo when its occupants apparently detonated explosives to prevent arrest, authorities said.
