General

Pope, Buhari kick as bombs kill more than 200 in Sri Lankan churches, hotels on Easter Sunday

Published

April 21, 2019

The Catholic pontiff, Pope Francis and President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday criticised the suicide attacks in Sri Lanka early in the day that killed no fewer than Over 200 people.

Both described the attacks as dastardly and cowardly and pledged their solidarity with Sri Lanka people in the elimination of such heinous crimes.

Reports indicated that no fewer than 450 others were injured in bomb blasts that ripped through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, the first major attack on the Indian Ocean island since the end of a civil war 10 years ago.

Seven people were arrested and three police officers were killed during a security forces raid on a house in the Sri Lankan capital several hours after the rash of attacks, some of which officials said were suicide bombs.

The government declared a curfew in Colombo and blocked access to social media and messaging sites, including Facebook and WhatsApp. It was unclear when the curfew would be lifted.

“Altogether, we have information of 207 dead from all hospitals. According to the information as of now we have 450 injured people admitted to hospitals,” police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told reporters.

NAN