Sri Lanka Bombings 150+ dead

suicide_circus · 21-04-2019 10:26am #1

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2019/0421/1044809-sri-lanka/

Churches and hotels targeted in a series of coordinated bomb attacks leaving over 150 dead and hundreds more injured.

No one has claimed responsibility as of yet. The Tamil Tigers i grew up hearing about on the news are meant to have been out of commission for a decade but there is also radical Islamist activity and even reports of the majority Buddhists suppressing Christians.

Here's hoping this shocking loss of life dosnt herald in a new era of violence for this beautiful country.

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo · 21-04-2019 10:29am

Wonder what Reverend Doctor Ian Paisley Junior has to say about this?

ThunbergsAreGo · 21-04-2019 10:32am

Tragic news on what is as you say a beautiful but divided country

TheValeyard · 21-04-2019 10:33am

Absolutely horrible story. Families just celebrating Easter literally ripped apart by barbaric savages.

donaghs · 21-04-2019 10:40am

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

Wonder what Reverend Doctor Ian Paisley Junior has to say about this?

Why would you wonder that? About 137 people dead, celebrating easter or just staying in/working in hotels.

Main suspects so far:
"News agency AFP says it has seen documents that show that Sri Lankan police have been on the alert for several days, fearing that suicide bombers from a local radical Muslim group, the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) were targeting “prominent churches.”

AFP also reported that Sri Lankan police seized a haul of explosives and detonators in January after arresting four men “from a newly formed radical Muslim group.”"

But best to wait for clarification before making too many assumptions.

Arne_Saknussem · 21-04-2019 10:41am

Reports of 7th & 8th explosions in Colombo, and an islandwide curfew imposed.

riffmongous · 21-04-2019 10:42am

Really shocking stuff to read so many poor people killed. I read 7 blasts across multiple cities, that's a high level of coordination

biko · 21-04-2019 10:49am

RIP to all those innocents.

I was in Sri Lanka for a time, mainly south of Colombo.
Lovely place, lovely people.

Jimbob1977 · 21-04-2019 10:50am

Sri Lanka recently emerged from decades of civil war between the Sinhalese majority (mainly Buddhists) and the Tamil minority (mainly Hindu).

Today's spate of bombings is a return to the bad old days, albeit focused on two small minority religions in the Sri Lankan sense.

Lone Stone · 21-04-2019 10:52am

that is horrific poor people, and no one has claimed to be behind it yet ?

Outkast_IRE · 21-04-2019 10:57am

I was only there in September for my honeymoon . We stayed on the cinnamon hotels around the country and Colombo and spent a night in negombo . Our driver was an ex army officer and took great pride in the fact the country was largely at peace and tourism was rising fast. Absolutely shocked this morning when I read this .

An amazing place to visit by all accounts, at the moment it seems to be Muslim extremists responsible hopefully they can find those responsible and bring them to justice .

Arne_Saknussem · 21-04-2019 10:59am

Lone Stone wrote: »

that is horrific poor people, and no one has claimed to be behind it yet ?

Unconfirmed reports say Sri Lanka’s police chief Pujuth Jayasundara had issued intel alert to top officers 10 days ago, warning that the NTJ was planning suicide attacks on Churches and Indian high commision.

I've not seen these verified yet thought.

Samuel Vimes · 21-04-2019 11:00am

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

at the moment it seems to be Muslim extremists responsible hopefully they can find those responsible and bring them to justice .

Any evidence of that at all?

Yurt2 · 21-04-2019 11:14am

Was there a couple of years back. The tourist industry is really important to them. This will be a big blow to them going forward, not to mention the tragic loss of life. Some countries can't catch a break.

Edit: BBC reporting 9 tourists among the dead (not saying their lives are more important, but it will certainly spook tourists coming from Europe/North America/other parts of Asia)

21-04-2019 11:18am

RIP
The attacking of any place of worship is just disgusting. Nothing good will come of this- radical will rise up against radical and the vicious cycle will just continue for generations- We've seen it all too many times. It's a crazy non-sensical way to live your life.

emo72 · 21-04-2019 11:21am

If the police were tipped off, how did it still happen?

MrFresh · 21-04-2019 11:33am

emo72 wrote: »

If the police were tipped off, how did it still happen?

Doesn't sound like they had details, just the method and general target type.

jmreire · 21-04-2019 11:42am

ISIS

Related?

Now that the caliphate has been destroyed, isis adherents are starting to spring up all over the world..but on a positive note, they are fighting against the taliban in Afghanistan...couldn't happen to more deserving people.....

riffmongous · 21-04-2019 11:43am

Deleted User wrote: »

RIP
The attacking of any place of worship is just disgusting. Nothing good will come of this- radical will rise up against radical and the vicious cycle will just continue for generations- We've seen it all too many times. It's a crazy non-sensical way to live your life.

Bbc linked to an article from last year where there was a state of emergency declared in parts of the country when Buddhist mobs started attacking mosques and muslim owned businesses. Only leads to more radicalisation

take everything · 21-04-2019 11:46am

riffmongous wrote: »

Bbc linked to an article from last year where there was a state of emergency declared in parts of the country when Buddhist mobs started attacking mosques and muslim owned businesses. Only leads to more radicalisation

Buddhist mobs.
Those are two words I never thought I'd see together. The world is so ****ed

Charles Babbage · 21-04-2019 11:48am

riffmongous wrote: »

Bbc linked to an article from last year where there was a state of emergency declared in parts of the country when Buddhist mobs started attacking mosques and muslim owned businesses. Only leads to more radicalisation

These bombings are sponsored by extremists outside Sri Lanka, but it is the local Muslim community that will suffer as a consequence.

How Soon Is Now · 21-04-2019 11:52am

https://news.sky.com/story/six-explosions-hit-sri-lanka-on-easter-sunday-11699701

I guess it's important enough to talk more then five minutes about on British media now.

riffmongous · 21-04-2019 11:52am

take everything wrote: »

Buddhist mobs.
Those are two words I never thought I'd see together. The world is so ****ed

Buddhism has a good reputation in the West for peace, but it's no different to Christianity's central tenets being all about love and yet Christian violence doesn't surprise anyone. The Rohingya ethnic cleansing in Burma is again mostly Buddhist, Thailand also had anti muslim violence from the Buddhist majority

21-04-2019 12:12pm

Very sad loss of life. Loved my time there and everyone was happy the violence was over, especially up in Trincomalee.

This will devastate their tourist industry. It's already an out-of-the-way place, and Negombo is basically the first stop for most tourists avoiding Colombo.

Upforthematch · 21-04-2019 12:13pm

riffmongous wrote: »

Buddhism has a good reputation in the West for peace, but it's no different to Christianity's central tenets being all about love and yet Christian violence doesn't surprise anyone. The Rohingya ethnic cleansing in Burma is again mostly Buddhist, Thailand also had anti muslim violence from the Buddhist majority

Emphasis on the ethnic. The attacks on Rohingya aren't 'Buddhist' - they are perpetrated by a tribe who also happen to be Buddhists.

Some people would highlight Northern Ireland violence as an example of 'Christian violence' - we know here it's all about the tribe.

So sad for all the victims and the injured in Sri Lanka today, some of the descriptions are horrific, RIP.

21-04-2019 12:26pm

Apparently, four suspects have been arrested while some others blew themselves up taking policemen with them.

Horrific.

Gentleman Off The Pitch · 21-04-2019 12:36pm

Charles Babbage wrote: »

These bombings are sponsored by extremists outside Sri Lanka, but it is the local Muslim community that will suffer as a consequence.

The bombings haven't been great for the Christians either

branie2 · 21-04-2019 12:39pm

Awful

riffmongous · 21-04-2019 12:54pm

Upforthematch wrote: »

Emphasis on the ethnic. The attacks on Rohingya aren't 'Buddhist' - they are perpetrated by a tribe who also happen to be Buddhists.

Pointless semantics, ethnic cleansing as a term includes religious violence. Because in many cases ethnicity is closely related to religion. Croats, Serbs and Bosniaks being a prime example. Although I agree that they are generally not 'Buddhist attacks', but that wasn't meant to be my point, I wanted to say that Buddhists being violent isn't really so surprising once you follow the history and politics of the regions the religion is popular in. Even if it's seen as a peaceful religion here in the West, it's practitioners can still be capable of violence and hate

Some people would highlight Northern Ireland violence as an example of 'Christian violence' - we know here it's all about the tribe.

So sad for all the victims and the injured in Sri Lanka today, some of the descriptions are horrific, RIP.

Sort of, but it wasn't 'all' about the tribe though, Kingsmill and a lot of Loyalist attacks were specifically religious

Outkast_IRE · 21-04-2019 12:58pm

Samuel Vimes wrote: »

Any evidence of that at all?

Just media reports and a warning that was sent out by security forces a few days ago that a Muslim group was planning church attacks

Snake Plisken · 21-04-2019 12:58pm

I see Covney & Varradker are too busy eating their Easter eggs this morning to tweet condemnation of this attack against Christians!

Sri Lanka Bombings 150+ dead

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