The Easter Sunday massacre in Sri Lanka, which targeted churches and hotels, has so far claimed 310 lives and left a further 500 people injured. National Thowheed Jamath, a local Islamist group, has been implicated but authorities believe it received support from an international terrorist organisation.
Colombo has declared a state of emergency and rounded up 40 suspects but the government’s swift response belies its behaviour before the atrocity. US and Indian intelligence reportedly warned of an impending attack earlier this month and a domestic police memorandum dated April 11th flagged up ‘an alleged plan of suicidal attack’; it also asked ministerial, judicial and diplomatic security divisions ‘to provide special security measures to the areas covered by your division’. Sri Lankan minister Harin Fernando says ‘serious action need[s] to be taken as to why this warning was ignored’.
These weren’t the only alarm bells. The situation for Sri Lanka’s 1.6 million Christians — mostly Catholics — has been perilous for some time now.
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