A series of bombs ripped through churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing at least 290 people and injuring hundreds. Several of those bombs went off inside churches, during Easter services in three cities.
Sri Lanka’s minority Christian community, which accounts for less than 10% of the country’s total population of 21.4 million, appeared to be the main target of the coordinated attacks.
Though it wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the eight explosions that paralyzed the country, Manisha Gunasekera, high commissioner of Sri Lanka to the UK, said the blasts are “certainly acts of terror.” Ten days before the attack, an intelligence memo warning of a possible attack had been circulated, raising questions about whether more could have been done to prevent the attack. An island-wide curfew was implemented until the following morning.
Here’s what we know about each location attacked on Sunday.
An explosion went off during Easter services at St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, the capital city. Three high-end hotels were also targeted: Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La Hotel and The Kingsbury.
St. Sebastian's Church, more than 22 miles north of the capital, was targeted.
A bomb tore through the evangelical Zion Church, 196 miles away from Colombo on Sri Lanka's east coast.
A hotel in front of the Dehiwala Zoo was attacked.
The final blast occurred at a private house in Mahawila Gardens in the Dematagoda area while police officers conducted a raid in connection with the attacks. Three police officers were killed.
Produced by Bernadette Tuazon, Sean O’Key and Darran Simon. Cody McCloy, Natalie Yubas, Henrik Pettersson, Ignacio Osorio and Padraic Driscoll contributed to this report.
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