On Easter Sunday of 2019 (21 April) Sri Lanka faced 8 bombings struck at churches and hotels which killed many civilians and wounding more than 500. following the Easter Sunday suicide attacks that also devastated the livelihood of the entire nation. This blast was the first major attack in Sri Lanka since the end of a civil war short of 10 years ago. The bombings seemed to be timed to cause maximum casualties among worshippers attending Easter services (St. Anthony’s Shrine, Colombo 13, St. Sebastian’s Church, Negombo & Zion Church, Batticaloa) and customers in restaurants eating breakfast in high-end Colombo Hotels. (Shangri-La, Kingsbury and Cinnamon Grand)
Explosions at eight sites, including three churchesVictims
1) Danadari Kuruppuachchi, 36, of Sri Lanka, who is a manager of a clothing manufacturer, were at St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo at the time of the attack, with her husband, 2) Clode Eshan Rangana Fernando, 41 & with their three children 3) Fabiola Fernando, 6, 4) Leona Fernando, 4, & 5) Seth Fernando, 11 months.
Sri Lankan celebrity chef 6) Shantha Mayadunne & her daughter 7) Nisanga Mayadunne was sharing breakfast with her family at the Shangri-La Hotel at the time of the attack.
Right before the attack, Shantha Mayadunne, third from right, and her daughter, Nisanga, right, at breakfast at the Shangri-La Hotel. The photo was posted on social media.(nytimes.com)
8) Ravindran Fernando, 61, of Sri Lanka, was attending Easter Mass at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo.
9) Mary Otricia Johnson, 47, of Sri Lanka, who was killed at St. Anthony’s Shrine.
10) M.H.M. Ibrahim, 23, 11) M.N.M. Nisthar, 21, 12) B.A.D.N. Shantha, 50, 13) T.A.A. Yaheya, 36, and 14) G.M.D. Sanjeewani, 35, are the employees of Cinnamon Grand hotel who deceased due to the attacks.
15) K. Pirathap, 38, of Sri Lanka & his wife, 16) Anashdi, 35, and their two daughters, 17) Antinaa, 7, and 18) Abriyaana, 1, were killed at St. Anthony’s Shrine.
19) Ramesh Raju, 40, of Sri Lanka died while trying to protect others at Zion Church in Batticaloa.
20) Sharon Stepan Santhakumar, 11, and his sister 21) Sarah Epzhibah Santhakumar, 10
, were killed at the Zion Church in Batticaloa.
22) Berlington Joseph Gomez, 33, and 23) Chandrika Arumugam, 31, both of Sri Lanka, were killed by the blast at St. Anthony’s Shrine along with their three sons, 24)Bevon, 9, 25) Clavon, 6, and 26) Avon, 11
27) Gayani Fernando, of Sri Lanka, was killed along with her husband, 28) Tyronne Gulding, 56, and her mother, 29) Mary Anaslyn Silva.
30) Dileep Roshan, 37, Sri Lankan.
31) Sneha Savindi, 12, of Sri Lanka, was killed in the bombing at St. Sebastian’s Church, as were 32) 32) Calistas Fernandoand two of his family members.
33) Zayan Chowdhury, 8, Bangladesh, who is a relative of a Bangladeshi politician, had been on vacation with his family.
34) Dhulodh Anthony, 7.
35) Enosh Silva, 12, of Sri Lanka, was killed at St. Sebastian’s church.
36) Jiyasha Sheshani Janz, 12, and her mother, 37) Dineesha Geethani de Vaas, were killed in the blast at St. Sebastian’s Church.
38) Diluk Fernando, 38, of Sri Lanka.
39) Gowda Ramesh, 40) K.M. Lakshminarayan, 41)M. Rangappa, 42) K.G. Hanumantharayappaand 43) Sri Hanumaiah Shivakumar who were the members of India’s Janata Dal Secular political party were killed
44) Razeena Khader Kukkady, 68, an Indian.
45) Maregowda, Indian, 46) H. Puttaraju, Indian, 47) Vemurai Tulsiram, Indian and48)R. Nagaraj, Indian were also killed.
49) Serhan Selcuk Narici, 34, of Turkey & 50) Yigit Ali Cavus, 25, of Turkey, worked as engineers on a project in Colombo.
51) Anita Nicholson, 42, of Britain, & her children, 52) Alex Nicholson, 14, and 53) Annabel Nicholson, 11 were killed.
54) Sally Bradley Harrop, 56, and 55) Billy Harrop, 56, Britain’s. Billy and Sally Harrop, both 56, were on vacation in Sri Lanka. (nytimes.com)
56) Daniel Linsey, 19, of Britain.
57) Amelie Linsey, 15, of Britain, was killed at Shangri-La hotel.
58) Lorraine Campbell, 55, of Britain, is an information technology director & he killed during his work trip to Sri Lanka.
59) Kowalski, 40, an American, was on a business trip to Sri Lanka.
Dieter Kowalski, a 40-year-old Denver resident, in a photo from social media. (nytimes.com)
60) Kieran Shafritz de Zoysa, 11, an American.
61) Manik Suriaaratchi of Australia and her daughter 62)Alexandria Suriaaratchi, 10, of Australia were killed in the attack.
Manik Suriaaratchi posted this photo with her daughter on social media. (nytimes.com)
63) Rui Lucas, 31, of Portugal.
64) Monique Allen, 54, of the Netherlands, were killed while having breakfast with one of sons & her son survived the attack.
65) Kaori Takahashi, 39, of Japan, was killed at Shangri-La Hotel.
66) Maria Gonzalez Vicente, 32, of Spain.
67) Alberto Chaves Gómez, 31, of Spain.
Cabin crew employees on Saudi Arabian Airlines 68) Ahmed Zain Jaafari and 69) Hani Maged Othman
Perpetrators
Sri Lankan police identified the nine suicide bombers. Police confirmed 257 dead due to the attacks and said the attackers’ assets would be confiscated in line with anti-terror laws. No one claimed responsibility immediately, but the Sri Lankan government said twenty-four Sri Lankans, had been arrested and investigators would look into whether the attackers had overseas links.
The destruction caused by the Easter Sunday bomb attack on the St Sebastian’s Church at Katuwapitiya in Negombo. (Dailynews.lk)
An inside view of St Anthony’s Shrine after the explosion. (Aljazeera.com)
Kingsbury after the explosions. (Dailynews.lk)
A few days later ISIS has claimed responsibility for bombings in Sri Lanka, releasing a video of the alleged attackers pledging allegiance to it’s leader. In a statement released the group said it was targeting 2 groups,
citizens of countries bombings it’s territories
Christians.,
References
By Deshakeerthi Lanka Puthra, Major General, Dr.Boniface Perera (Ph.D.), Easter Sunday Bombings And Their Impact, Daily Mirror, 22/05/2019 – Link
By Agence France-Presse, Sri Lanka Police Name All Nine Easter Sunday Suicide Bombers, The Guardian, 02/05/2019 – Link
By Jason Burke, Pressure Builds On Sri Lankan Officials As Isis Claims Easter Attacks, The Guardian, 24/04/2019 – Link
By Chamikara Weerasinghe, Bomb gear, suicide kit, seven suspects arrested in Ampara, Daily News, 27/04/2019 – Link
By a Staff Writer Tense situation in Chilaw: One arrested, police curfew till 4am tomorrow, Newsfirst, 12/05/2019 – Link
By Jane Lytvynenko, Social Media Has Been Blocked for Over 24 Hours In Sri Lanka After The Deadly Explosions, buzz feed news, 21/04/2019 – Link
By Irangika Range, Ban ‘niqab, burqa’ – Prof. Ashu, Daily news, 24/04/2019 – Link
By Krishan Francis and Emily Schmall, Sri Lankan police arrest 40 suspects after bombings as death toll rises, Independent, 23/04/2019 – Link
