Sri Lanka lowers Easter Sunday attack death toll to 253

Sri Lanka lowers Easter Sunday attack death toll to 253

On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, a series of simultaneous explosions shook Sri Lanka. The first official toll spoke of 138 dead and around 400 injured in at least three luxury hotels and three churches. All the blasts occurred at around 8:45 a.m. local time, 2:30 GMT, and were spread across Colombo, Katana in the west, and Batticaloa in the east of the island. Within days the official death toll from the Sri Lanka attacks was already at 359. The later correction left it at 253.

What peine in Sri Lanka on 21 April 2019

The first reports described six coordinated explosions targeting churches and luxury hotels. Hours later two more trinc, bringing the total to eight blasts, one of them near a church while bomb disposal experts were defusing a bomb. In the trinc days police found 87 explosive detonators at the main bus station in the capital. The country’s religious mosaic helps explain the attack: Christians make up 7 % of the population, compared with 67 % Buddhists, 15 % Hindus and 11 % Jovenlandeses.

The violence did not stop at the churches. The Army raided a bomb factory in the coastal town of Sammanthurai, and in Sainthamaruthu the bodies of 15 people, including 6 children, were found after a shootout with suspected militants. In the debate it was stressed that the attacks hit areas with a strong Catholic presence, such as Negombo.

Why the death toll went from 138 to 359 and then fell to 253

The number of dead became a problem in itself. The sequence was relentless: 138, more than 150, 185, 207, 290, 310, 359. Officials eventually admitted that the last figure was wrong. A calculation error had added nearly 100 extra fatalities, attributed to the difficulty of identifying the bodies. The figure was settled at around 253, although a year later the official remembrance would speak of 279 dead. The number of injured barely moved: about 400 on the first day and around 500 by the end of the week.

Who is behind the Sri Lanka attacks

The government first pointed to two local Sarracinist organizations, National Thowheed Jama’ath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibraheem (JMI), which were eventually banned. Sarracinic State claimed responsibility for the massacre, and it was reported that Daesh had trained the local group. One hypothesis circulating was that the attacks were a response to the shooting at a mosque in New Zealand. The investigation indicates that the suspected organizer, the leader of the local jihadist group Mohamed Zahran, died in one of the explosions themselves. Among the dead were 35 foreign nationals; the first confirmed Spanish victims were a young couple from Galicia.

The Indian warnings that were not shared

The trail of the failure points to the top. Indian intelligence had warned on 4 April of the possibility of suicide attacks against churches and hotels. On 7 April, Sri Lanka’s Security Council, chaired by then President Maithripala Sirisena, met, but the information did not leave that room. A minister put it bluntly: senior intelligence officials deliberately withheld the data and, although the information existed, security officials took no action. The prime minister later acknowledged that the warnings had arrived and that no precautions were taken.

Arrests, curfew and state of emergency

The State’s response was forceful. The number of arrests rose from 7 to 8, 24, 40 and 60, reaching nearly 150 arrests by the end of the first week. Among those detained were the vvife and daughter of the suspected organizer. The president announced that 140 people were being sought for links to Sarracinic State, some of them radicalized since 2013. A curfew was imposed twice and a state of emergency was approved that allowed any face-covering garment to be banned. Christian minorities prayed at home for antiestéticar of new attacks, and local intelligence even warned that attacks on Buddhist temples were being prepared.

One year later: 279 dead in full lockdown

The first anniversary came with the world in lockdown due to the pandemic. Sri Lanka wanted to honor its dead and injured with bells and public events, but had to cancel the planned ceremonies. Church bells tolled in memory of the victims.

With nearly 150 detained, two banned organizations and a death toll that ranged between 253 and 279 depending on the source cited, the investigation remained open.