EU offers condolences to Sri Lanka
“A series of coordinated attacks hit churches and hotels in Sri Lanka this morning, causing extreme devastation. With men, women and children, from all walks of life and from different nationalities among the victims, this is a truly sad day for the country and for the world” says the statement of the EU top diplomat Federcia Mogherini.
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Seven suspects were arrested later in the afternoon, Sri Lanka‘s defense minister said. However there were no immediate claims of responsibility.
AFP news agency reports that Sri Lanka‘s police chief Pujuth Jayasundara issued an intelligence alert to top officers 10 days ago, warning that suicide bombers planned to hit “prominent churches“.
“A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,” the alert said.
The NTJ is Sri Lanka radical Muslim group that was linked last year to the vandalism of Buddhist statues.
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“An unprecedented wave of strikes since the end of the civil war in 2009, which occurred in the context of the excessive ethnic and religious violence. More than 100 kg of explosives were found in January”, writes French leading expert in terrorism Jean-Charles Brisard.
