The first funerals were held on Tuesday at the damaged church in western Sri Lanka, where as many as 100 parishioners had been killed by a suicide bomber on Sunday. The coffins, many bearing the remains of children, were interred as the government declared a national day of mourning and raised the death toll from the weekend’s coordinated attacks to 310.
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The number of suspects arrested in connection with the attacks at
churches and hotels increased to 40 from 24 on Tuesday as the government
declared “emergency law.” The new law gives the police sweeping powers
to detain and interrogate suspects without obtaining warrants.
•
Intelligence agencies from across South Asia are sharing information
about National Thowheeth Jama’ath, the radical Muslim group blamed for
carrying out the attacks on churches and hotels. The group, previously
known for small-scale acts of vandalism, is believed have backing by
“international terrorist organizations,” officials said.
•
As intelligence and security officials searched for clues about the
perpetrators, politicians pointed fingers after it was revealed that the
country’s security forces were warned
at least 10 days before the bombings that the militant group was
planning attacks against churches, but apparently took no action.
Tiny coffins laid to rest in mass grave
The coffins came one by one, some heavy and others much lighter.
As
bulldozers cleared more space in a vacant lot near a church in Negombo,
Sri Lanka, barefoot men dripping with sweat scooped dirt with shovels
as the sun beat down.
One family stood in the shade. They were here for the burial of an 11-year-old boy.
“I
don’t even know what to say,” said Lasanthi Anusha, a woman who came
for the burial of her son’s classmate. “There were even smaller ones.”
Tuesday
was the beginning of the first mass burials of the victims of Sunday’s
suicide attacks in Sri Lanka, which killed more than 300 people,
including many children. Soldiers and even an armored personnel carrier
lined the roads as the burials unfolded under widespread grief and
intense security.
Of the half-dozen
sites simultaneously attacked on Sunday, the St. Sebastian Church in
Negombo was the hardest hit. A suicide bomber, who has been linked to a
homegrown Sri Lankan Islamist group, killed as many as 100 people here.
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On
Tuesday, priests wearing crisp white robes trimmed with black sashes
held funerals in a large tent just outside the church. The funerals were
scheduled to go all day. The neighborhood around the church had been
turned into an enormous, fortified mourning ground, with hundreds of
soldiers deployed in every direction and little white flags fluttering
in the wind.
National day of mourning as death toll rises
A
full day of national mourning was declared across the country on
Tuesday, as flags were lowered and a moment of silence was observed.
At
8:30 a.m., the time the first of six attacks were carried out on
Sunday, Sri Lankans of differing faiths and ethnic groups bowed their
heads and remained silent for three minutes.
Tuesday's
moment of silence coincided with a report from a police spokesman that
the death toll had risen to 310, up from 290 on Monday.
As
part of the mourning period, liquor stores were ordered closed. Radio
and television stations have played somber music throughout the day.
The
front pages of local newspapers were similarly solemn on Tuesday. One,
The Daily Mirror, printed a stark all black cover that read, “In
remembrance of all those who lost their lives on 21.04.2019.”
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An earlier arrest for one suspect
One
of the suicide bombers was arrested just a few months ago, Sri Lankan
officials disclosed on Monday, on suspicion of having vandalized a
statue of Buddha. That is an inflammatory act in a Buddhist-majority
nation where strident religiosity, on all sides, seems to be increasing.
The
disclosure of the arrest came as Sri Lankan officials squared off over
the attacks, and whether more could have been done to try to prevent
them. In a government that is no stranger to crisis, the bitter
recriminations suggested that a new one may be in the offing.
New
details emerged about a confidential security memo on the group
believed to be behind the attacks, which was issued 10 days before it
struck. The memo appeared to lay it all out: names, addresses, phone
numbers, even the times in the middle of the night that one suspect
would visit his wife.
Surveying the damage at St. Sebastian’s Church on Monday.CreditAdam Dean for The New York Times
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The bombs hinted at a worrying level of expertise
Whoever
designed the suicide vests used in the blasts showed considerable
competence, a fact that is certain to worry law enforcement agencies,
said Scott Stewart, vice president for tactical analysis at Stratfor, a
geopolitical consulting firm based in Austin, Tex.
When
small, homegrown extremist groups use explosives, they often start with
a series of failures. Some bombs fail to detonate completely, and
others explode early, late, or not at all.
But
in the Sri Lanka attack, it appears that all seven suicide vests
detonated and did heavy damage, Mr. Stewart said, indicating skill at
making bombs and manually activated detonators, and suggesting access to
a large supply of military-grade high explosives.
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“You don’t do that by accident, so they must have a fairly decent logistics network and funding,” he added.
But
Joshua A. Geltzer, a former senior director for counterterrorism at the
National Security Council, said he would not be surprised if a small
group had been able to stage the attack without direct help.
“There
is so, so much instruction and guidance available on the open internet
these days, not to mention whatever is circulating on encrypted chat
groups, widely available in terrorist circles if not totally public,” he
said.
Unexploded bombs, apparently
not designed for suicide attacks, were found in other public places in
Sri Lanka. That suggests that the bomb maker (or makers) was less expert
at detonation using timers or remote control, Mr. Stewart said.
President
Maithripala Sirisena in December. Mr. Sirisena’s government has given
additional powers to the police and security forces to detain and
interrogate people.CreditAdam Dean for The New York Times
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Government responds with a curfew, a social media blackout, and more
Sri
Lankan officials took a series of extraordinary steps in an effort to
keep control of their shaken country, aiming to prevent further
extremist attacks and retaliatory violence.
Mr.
Sirisena, the president, said the government had given additional
powers to the police and security forces to detain and interrogate
people, and for the second day in a row, a curfew was imposed, from 8
p.m. until 4 a.m.
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The government temporarily blocked several networks, including Facebook and Instagram. Users also reported being unable to access the messaging services WhatsApp and Viber.
Though
Sunday’s attacks have no known link to social media, Sri Lanka has a
troubled history with violence incited on the platforms. The ban was an
extraordinary step that reflected growing global concerns about social
media.
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