As Christians in Sri Lanka gathered on Sunday morning to celebrate the Easter month, powerful explosions ripped through three churches full of worshipers, causing hundreds of victims to break between the scattered and blood-scattered havoc.
Police said that in the coordinated terrorist attacks organized by the same group, the attackers killed three popular hotels with tourists. At least 207 people were killed and 450 others were injured, said a police spokesman, Ruwan Gunasekera.
The news of the bomb blasts, the biggest attack on South Asian Christianity in recent memory, disrupting the celebrations around the world, eliminated all Easter mornings. After celebrating Mass in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis said that the attacks brought "grief and sorrow" on the most important occasions of Christian holidays.
Sri Lanka Blasts Live Updates: 8 blasts rock the island nation, 215 dead ... *
• The bombing started around 8:45 in the morning, and targeted Roman Catholic worship houses - St. Anthony's Shrine in the capital Colombo; St. Sebastian Church in Negambo; And Zion Church in Battenoa - with three luxury hotels: Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, and Kingsbury, all in Colombo.
• At least seven suspects were organized in connection with the bomb blast, said Sri Lankan Defense Minister, Ruwan Vijwardin. He said that the suicide bombers were behind the blasts.
• A top police officer alerted the security officials in a consultant about 10 days ago about the threat to the churches from a fundamentalist Islamist group, the National Thaat Jamaat. But it was not clear whether the security measures, if any, or finally the group played a role in the violence. And on Sunday, reflecting the friction within the government, the Prime Minister said that he was not informed.
According to Uday Seneviratne, Chief Secretary of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka has temporarily blocked major social media and messaging services including Facebook and WhatsApp.
• At least 35 of the dead were foreigners, many of them were American, officials said. According to officials and news reports, other victims were British, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese citizens.