For many in Colombo, the festivities were marked with grief.
On Sunday (April 5), the world celebrated Easter, a festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But for many in Colombo, the festivities were marked with grief. It s been two years since the Easter bombings.
On 21st April, 2019, Sri Lankans woke up to the news of a terror attack. A little before 10 am, a blast ripped through St Anthony s Church in Colombo. Worshippers attending easter mass were targeted. Minutes later another place of worship about 30 kilometers away was hit.
A blast took place at St Sebastian Church in Negombo. And then, it was the Zeon Church in Baticaloa. Terror also struck three luxury hotels in Colombo. The Shangri La, The Cinnamon Grand, and the Kingsbury Hotel.
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The security personnel include 9,350 police officials and 2,542 troops from the tri forces (Army, Navy and Air Force), he said.
The St Sebastian s Church at Negombo s Katuwapitiya was the worst-hit in the Easter Sunday blasts that rocked the island nation in 2019 with 114 people dying in the church attack.
The Buddhist-majority nation was about to mark a decade since ending a 37-year-long Tamil separatist war in May 2009 when the suicide bombings in 2019 rocked the country.
Colombo: Security at churches across Sri Lanka have been beefed up ahead of Easter on Sunday, police said on Saturday, in the wake of the April 2019 coordinated attacks on tourists and minority Christian community in the country in which 270 people were killed.
Sri Lanka tightens church security ahead of Easter
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Sri Lanka tightens church security ahead of Easter
PTI / Apr 3, 2021, 15:35 IST
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COLOMBO: Security at churches across Sri Lanka have been beefed up ahead of Easter on Sunday, police said on Saturday, in the wake of the April 2019 coordinated attacks on tourists and minority Christian community in the country in which 270 people were killed. We have tightened security of churches by deploying over 12,000 security personnel,” Senior Deputy Inspector General and police spokesperson Ajith Rohana told reporters here.
The security personnel include 9,350 police officials and 2,542 troops from the tri forces (Army, Nay and Air Force), he said.
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Rasheed Hajjul Akbar, who headed the Jamaat-e-Islami organisation for 24 years until last September 2019, was arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) from Dematagoda area on Friday, Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said
A 60-year-old former leader of Islamic organisation Jamaat-e-Islami has been arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly promoting extremism in the country, police announced on Saturday.
Rasheed Hajjul Akbar, who headed the Jamaat-e-Islami organisation for 24 years until last September 2019, was arrested by the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) from Dematagoda area on Friday, Police Spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana said.
He was publishing articles in a magazine published by the Jamaat-e-Islami organisation to promote Wahhabism and Jihadist ideology in Sri Lanka, the police spokesman said.