Sri Lanka explosions: 137 killed as churches and hotels targeted

On now in the headlines.

Was the lead story when I switched on Sky News, they are still reporting it.

Also on BBC News right now, RT showing a Trump related story.

Yes on now. Was surprised was not on earlier.

Holiday weekend, quite possible that they've been caught on the hop with a lack of available staff to pick up and report on the story.

Anyway, terrible news to wake up to, a country that has had its fair share of terrorist problems over the years.
Another sad reminder of how a determined group of individuals can al to easily cause widespread suffering and mayhem.

Indeed. Horrible. You are probably right about the staff in the newsrooms.

i was out in sri lanka in february.

its a wonderful place with wonderful people.

but like everywhere else these days there are nutters who want to ruin lives
by terrorist activities. i heard some suggestion this morning that there have
been terrorists returning there from failed islamic state.

a warning to us all that these nutters remain a danger.

Deaths now 190 apparently

My other half's brother has arranged to get married there in 2020.  At Easter. 

He also said that "all the culprits" had been identified and would be "taken into custody as soon as possible".

A new Low families attending Churches for Easter ,no Mention of the Religion of Peace on the BEEB ..Will we have a Months

coverage all peoples names and Pictures on the BBC site as we did re New Zealand ...

Reuters saying 207 dead now. It will rise no doubt

the old nanny ;-) • April 21, 2019 12:55 PM BST
He also said that "all the culprits" had been identified and would be "taken into custody as soon as possible".

How is this achieved when the culprits are suicide bombers ?

an absolute tragedy for all those involved ,a sad indictment of the world we live in that we have almost become immune to reacting to
this kind of story.

Its sick Snowy ,Small  Terrorist attacks across Europe barely get a Mention anymore

At least 200 have perished in the attack, which saw six almost-simultaneous blasts which targeted churches and five-star hotels and two blasts reported later in the day.

It is believed 35 foreigners are among the dead, including British, American and Dutch citizens.

The first blast ripped through St Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo.

A second explosion was reported at St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a Catholic majority town north of Colombo.

The Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury hotels were also targeted in the seemingly synchronised blasts.

National Hospital spokesman Dr Samindi Samarakoon says the nearly 300 wounded have been admitted to the capital Colombo’s main hospital.

Many Children among the Dead

A direct and well planned attack aimed at  Christians Heading off to or at Church

Sad thing is you don't find this sort of thing shocking anymore. Just a couple 100 added to the death count.
I'm sure it won't be anything to do with the beliefs of the people who did it of course. You're a fascist if you ever consider that.

I assume that all Christian places of worship in this country have seen an increased police presence on this holy day to reassure churchgoers

West Midlands Police's Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Boycott said: "Officers will be engaging with key religious buildings today to reassure local people.

Would be the Answer , Bot sure how many Catholic Churches are in the Area .

Meanwhile :

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for "unity, love and respect" to combat hatred.

I believe the other JC (not Just Checking) used to say similar.

Was in Sri Lanka a few years ago.
Wonderful country, great people.
So sad that they have to put up with this sort of religious atrocity.
And for a country that relies heavily on tourism, this will be devastating.

Nice people Used to eat in a Sri Lankan Restaurant a few Years back , Mainly full of Sri Lankan Families Always a good Sign food was Lovely , Staff could not do enough for us , one of the few things I miss since I left London .

Will only get Worse ,after the Defeat in Syria the mob will Just target Christians world Wide

Conservative MEP Nerj Deva


There is no sense to this absurd, disgusting act of senseless murder.

"And then a question mark hanging over the entire island as to what this all this is about.

Erm!1 we know what its all about , There is a certain Percentage of a Certain Religion that hate anyone who is not
of that religion , and its about time people started calling it as it is ..

We can be thankful nanny, that we don't have a totally porous south european "border" with NGOs acting as a taxi service for any chancer who wants to come from north africa into Europe......

This Candles and Unity shyte Changes nothing ,Never has and never will  ....

I would bet short odds the Perps of this Horror are Known to Security Forces ,Probably Protected by some Civ /Lib shyte such as what may even allow that thing in Syria to return to the UK , Along with the Others that have already made their way back ..

Apr 21, 2019 -- 4:14PM, the old nanny ;-) wrote:

This Candles and Unity shyte Changes nothing ,Never has and never will

So eradicate the christians who invented that sort of thing.

Candles were Invented a long time before Christianity , I believe Egyptians had them

Aye, but Jesus Christ invented unity shyte.

TBF he didn't Know MO was on his way

He knew of the Romans and the Egyptians.

The Samaritans were a bad lot, with a single exception.

wonder if some lovely billionaires will be directing some funds to Sri Lanka

chinese are spending big bucks in sri lanka these days

massive building works going on

mouse is a secret "sammy lover"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rywVlfTtlMY

the old nanny ;-) • April 21, 2019 4:10 PM BST
...............There is a certain Percentage of a Certain Religion that hate anyone who is not
of that religion , and its about time people started calling it as it is ..

Half of that 'religion' hate the other half of that 'religion' because there is a slight difference in their definition of Islam .
It would appear to be true , however , that both sects hate non-Islams

so the culprits were 'known' Going to be some sh it flying over this as it looks like they knew an attack was forthcoming

Google news has already moved this off the main headlines.

100s in the UK Bap , nothing can be done Until they start killing people , they know who they are and where they are ,Sadly

Its all about Civil Liberties These days .. Our Liberal Luvvie friends have seen to that ..

its got nowt to do with civil liberties

it seems to be the choice of government to allow them to return, unless
they are female and pregnant and living in refugee camp.

Probably indoctrinated by all the anti Christian guff posted on Chit Chat.

Ur Wrong Donny there are known Isis Members Living in the UK , Why are they not being Banged up ??

Was ok to bang IRA suspects up back in day the NO TRIAL ..

I would think the Scum we are dealing with now are a Bigger threat than the IRA ever were ..

So why are they not being taking out of Circulation ??

Pointless going on TBH , the Dead will be Buried, The world will await the Next  Horror Show ..

When you have a Conservative MP
saying this :

"And then a question mark hanging over the entire island as to what this all this is about"

Its scandalous TBH  the Whole world knows what its about

The very sad thing is that if this happened in America or Australia the response would be more dramatic.


This is an horrific attack and I've no idea what it's about but to happen on Easter Sunday is telling..

yeah i know

it seems to be government policy to allow them to return.

there was a guy being prosecuted for fighting against islamic state

why not charge all returnees, get them in court, and banged up , if guilty, of course.

Madness the Lot of it

BBC amazingly (except not amazingly as it's the BBC) correctly reported that the government were forewarned of the attacks, but of course redacted and omitted to mention the fact that the group they were warned about were a named and known group of the "religion of peas"...

The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that was linked last year to the vandalism of Buddhist statues. (This cannot be down to the Tamil Tigers.)

Will the Police now be guarding all Churches in the UK, just in case of the possibility of copycat attacks? 

After all, only a few weeks ago they mystifyingly decided to place guards outside hundreds of Mosques in the UK, following the terror attack by some solitary nutter in New Zealand.

"West Midlands Police's Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Boycott said: "Officers will be engaging with key religious buildings today to reassure local people."

Posted this Earlier in the Thread Alun, not Sure how many Key religious Buildings in the West Midlands are Churches ,

Perhaps someone can enlighten us ..

I do remember absolute terror Over taking the Uk and major news Items on most media platforms after a couple of

Nutters threw bricks through a few Windows , apparently two  out of work Glazier's was arrested .

Will pics , Names and Life histories of the Innocent People slaughtered by these animals today be Posted on a special page on the BBC , IF not Why not ? if it was fit Fit for those Murderered in NZ , hopefully the Same applies to those lost today .

Three thousand names is gonna take up a lot of space .
Were these christian churches responsible for radicalising worshipers ? Is there evidence to suggest that priests were preaching hate in their sermons ?

Did make me wonder the other day if something was in the pipeline
or activity going on when Jeremy Hunt talked about attacks on Christians
in his Easter message   coincidence ??.

290 DEAD, was listening radio 5 last night some expert was wheeled out from a Uni in the USA . who were the Perps and why was the Question , We had everyone From the Tamil Tigers to Right wing Buddhists Mentioned ,Unreal ...

still not being called a terrorist attack by the MSM. Is this because it may be a disgruntled ex-employee or a love triangle?

A local group named as National Thowheed Jamath are believed to be behind the attack

Local to What ?

This was an extremely well planned  attack , will have been well funded and Supported ,what needs to be looked into is where
The money and support is coming from ..

Obama
The attacks on tourists and Easter worshippers in Sri Lanka are an attack on humanity. On a day devoted to love, redemption, and renewal, we pray for the victims and stand with the people of Sri Lanka.

Clinton
On this holy weekend for many faiths, we must stand united against hatred and violence. I'm praying for everyone affected by today's horrific attacks on Easter worshippers and travelers in Sri Lanka.

No mention of Christians or terrorists.

or muslims

btw, further to my earlier post about them "being warned" It was on the 4th April that the word went out

Our media are a joke

Time to shut them down and be done with it

i get a feeling that someone in authority neglected (forgot?) conveniently about the warnings earlier this month. Sri Lankan politics is fickle at the best of times

8 Brits dead.

It is believed some Muslim youths were radicalised after clashes between the majority Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims last year in the central district of Kandy.

Well WTF has that to do with Attacks on Christians on Easter Sunday ??

Scandalous unabated rubbish being continually spewed out by the Beeb .

the old nanny ;-) • April 22, 2019 5:45 PM BST
It is believed some Muslim youths were radicalised after clashes between the majority Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims last year in the central district of Kandy.

Well WTF has that to do with Attacks on Christians on Easter Sunday ??

Well it is acknowledged that Buddhists are the most peaceful people on the planet so it would hardly be deemed fair to target Buddhists .
So , Christians will have to bear the brunt of their wrath ................. as per

i think they've all forgotten about Al-Qaeda; mind you the attack wasn't in the West, was it

May have changed tact bap in Europe,seems a lot of fires about these days, IMO..many unreported

British man confirms family killed

A British man has confirmed that his wife and two children, aged 14 and 11, were killed in the attacks.

"My family and I wish to confirm that my wife Anita, our son Alex (age 14) and our daughter Annabel (age 11) were killed in the bombing of the restaurant of the Shangri-la Hotel, Colombo on Sunday morning while sitting at our table," Ben Nicholson said in a statement.

"Mercifully, all three of them died instantly and with no pain or suffering."

smells like AQ to me, conditor. All the hallmarks

old nanny - there are no words. I'd gratefully sacrifice my life for theirs.

No good waiting to hear any sense from our media

Useless at even pushing their own agenda

They catch up in the end:

By Jeffrey Gettleman, Mujib Mashal and Dharisha Bastians
April 22, 2019

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The confidential security memo laid it all out: names, addresses, phone numbers, even the times in the middle of the night that one suspect would visit his wife.

In the days leading up to the devastating suicide bombings that killed nearly 300 people in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, the country’s security agencies had been closely watching a secretive cell of the National Thowheeth Jama’ath, a little-known radical Islamist organization that security officials in Sri Lanka now say carried out the attacks and may have received help from abroad.

They knew the group was dangerous. They had collected intelligence on the whereabouts of its leaders in the April 11 security memo, which warned of Catholic church bombings. They had been warned even earlier by India that the group, also known by the spelling National Thowheed Jama’ath, was plotting church attacks. They knew as far back as January that radical Islamists possibly tied to the group had stockpiled weapons and detonators.

And within hours of when three churches and three hotels were bombed, Sri Lankan security services swooped down on at least 24 suspects, suggesting that they also knew exactly where the group had been operating.
Why the security agencies failed to act aggressively on the information before the bombings — and why some top officials, including the country’s prime minister, didn’t know about the information that the agencies possessed — are enormous questions that have created a crisis in the Sri Lankan government.

Evil does , what Evil is. They can't help themselves it's what they are.

The Gospel clearly tells those who believe , nation will rise against nation and this is just the beginning but these things must take place.

What percentage of this earth is in darkness ?   For a bright light to shine do we not understand therefore darkness must come first ??

The lord tells you he is the light and much must happen before he returns. Everything he and the prothet spoke are coming to pass just as they predicted.

Very sad this world but remember this is just flesh the next world is the kingdom of peace.  Never has it been written anywhere there would be peace in this world ?

Hilary Clinton after Christchurch: 'My heart goes out to the global Muslim community. We must continue to fight the normalisation of Islamaphobia.'

HC after Sri Lanka: 'I'm praying for everyone affected by the attacks on Easter worshippers'

She specifically avoided the use of the word 'Christians'.

Obama after Christchurch: 'We grieve with you and the Muslim community'.

Obama after Sri Lanka: 'The attack on Easter worshippers is an attack on humanity'

Again, the avoidance of 'Christians'. Anyone would think there's an agenda!!

https://youtu.be/RNm9JZ_joBE

Sounds like the government has a lot to answer for....


There is a thread running through Sri Lanka's cycles of violence

Sri Lanka’s minorities – including its Christians and Muslims – have paid a high price for the state’s failure to protect them

As mass burials for some of the Christian worshippers killed in the Easter Sunday bombings take place today, claims that the attackers were local Islamic extremists have left Sri Lanka’s Muslims – who make up 10% of the population – devastated. Although details are scant, and doubts exist about the official government account, a senior minister announced on Monday that the attackers belonged to a new fringe jihadist group, the National Thowheeth Jama’ath, that military intelligence had been aware of but had not acted against. Even amid news that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attacks, it is still unknown whether the bombers were homegrown or connected to international terror groups.
Sri Lanka bombings: Islamic State claims responsibility for attacks
Read more

Yet again, Sri Lanka, especially its Christian minority, has paid a severe price for government failures. Muslims, already the target of hate campaigns, will no doubt face repercussions. Part of the tragedy is that since independence, Muslims have stayed away from violence, both during Sri Lanka’s civil war, and more recently, when they have been the target of religiously motivated attacks.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/23/sri-lanka-violence-minorities-christians-muslims

How do IS claim attacks? Do they tweet it or have a website?

Obama and Clinton =sickening hypocritical lickspittles.  Easter worshippers !

It's a complete joke isn't it Injera!

The hypocrisy and irony is astounding.  Islam brings out the race card whenever it's attacked, yet it's by far the most racist religion going.

Racist , misogynistic , paedophilic , barbaric ......... the list is endless