Sri Lanka bereaved by series of bloody attacks

The death toll of the attacks that hit luxury hotels and Catholic churches celebrating Easter on Sunday worsened to 207 dead and more than 450 injured, police said.

The Sri Lankan authorities have declared an immediate curfew and the temporary blocking of social networks to prevent the dissemination of “incorrect and false information” in response to the blasts.

This violence, which was not immediately claimed, is the deadliest in the country since the end of the civil war ten years ago.

A video taken in one of the affected churches showed many bodies curled up, the ground strewn with rubble and covered in blood. The violence of the explosion had blown parts of the roof, revealing the sky.

Eight explosions occurred on this island popular with foreign tourists, six in the morning and two in the early afternoon. At least two of them are the work of suicide bombers.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe blasted “cowardly attacks” and called on the country to unity. The Archbishop of Colombo called for “punishing without mercy” the culprits.

Pope Francis expressed his “sadness” on learning “the news of the serious attacks, which precisely today, Easter Day, brought mourning and pain in several churches and other meeting places in Sri Lanka” . About 1.2 million Catholics live in Sri Lanka, a country of 21 million people where Christians represent 7% of the population, mostly Buddhist (70%).

At least 35 foreigners are among the dead, including a Portuguese.

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