Sri Lankans urged to avoid mosques, churches amid fears of more attacks

[webfact]

Sri Lankans urged to avoid mosques, churches amid fears of more attacks

 

A soldier stands guard at St. Anthony's Shrine during heavy rain, days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels across the island on Easter Sunday, in Colombo, Sri Lanka April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

 

COLOMBO (Reuters) - Muslims in Sri Lanka were urged to pray at home on Friday and not attend mosques or churches after the State Intelligence Services warned of possible car bomb attacks, amid fears of retaliatory violence for the Easter Sunday bombings.

 

The U.S. embassy in Sri Lanka also urged its citizens to avoid places of worship over the coming weekend after authorities reported there could be more attacks targeting religious centres.

 

Sri Lanka remains on edge after suicide bombing attacks on three churches and four hotels that killed 253 people and wounded about 500. The attacks have been claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.

 

Nearly 10,000 soldiers are being deployed across the Indian Ocean island state to carry out searches and provide security for religious centres, the military said on Friday.

 

Fears of retaliatory sectarian violence has already caused Muslim communities to flee their homes amid bomb scares, lockdowns and security sweeps.

The All Ceylon Jamiyathul Ullama, Sri Lanka's main Islamic religious body, urged Muslims to conduct prayers at home on Friday in case "there is a need to protect family and properties".

 

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith also appealed to priests not to conduct mass at churches until further notice.

 

"Security is important," he said.

 

Police have detained least 76 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, in their investigations so far.

 

Islamic State provided no evidence to back its claim that it was behind the attacks. If true, it would be one of the worst attacks carried out by the group outside Iraq and Syria.

 

Islamic State released a video on Tuesday showing eight men, all but one with their faces covered, standing under a black Islamic State flag and declaring their loyalty to its leader, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi.

 

The Sri Lankan government said there were nine homegrown, well-educated suicide bombers, eight of whom had been identified. One was a woman.

 

Authorities have focused their investigations on international links to two domestic Islamist groups - National Thawheed Jama'ut and Jammiyathul Millathu Ibrahim - they believe carried out the attacks.

 

Government officials have acknowledged a major lapse in not widely sharing an intelligence warning from India before the attacks. Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando resigned over the failure to prevent the attacks.

 

The Easter Sunday bombings shattered the relative calm that had existed in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka since a civil war against mostly Hindu ethnic Tamil separatists ended 10 years ago.

 

Sri Lanka's 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Until now, Christians had largely managed to avoid the worst of the island's conflict and communal tensions.

 

Most of the victims were Sri Lankans, although authorities said at least 38 foreigners were also killed, many of them tourists sitting down to breakfast at top-end hotels when the bombers struck.

 

They included British, U.S., Australian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals. Britain warned its nationals on Thursday to avoid Sri Lanka unless it was absolutely necessary because there could be more attacks.

 

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-04-26

[Lupatria]

Another paradise lost...????

[atyclb]

easy to grow up believing in the mantra "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" until you encounter something mohandis gandhi said;

 

"an eye for an eye will only make the entire world blind"

[Sydebolle]

The lower the education level, the more poisonous religion becomes.

The best example is Islam and Sharia law. Total disrespect of women, of non-fidels and hence human outcast still fully engaged in the Palaeolithic age. To be fair, which religion promotes marriages between old farts and school girls.

Being aware, that this is practiced only by a %o of the followers of the faith I am absolutely speechless over the 99.x % of all those Muslims who keep quiet and do not speak up against the absolute wrong-doing of the "faithful brethren". They are as guilty as those committing all these crimes. Once identified and arrested just get rid of this human manure. And act, while you still can ..............

[TopDeadSenter]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Fears of retaliatory sectarian violence has already caused Muslim communities to flee their homes

This repeated painting of muslims as the victims here is appalling. Let's be clear this was a horrific unprovoked attack by muslims against non-muslims. End of. Churches are under siege by these guys all over the world in huge numbers. There is no way an honest and fair narrative can be painting the aggressors as the victims. It has all been made so much more offensive by refusing to name the victims as long suffering Christians, the most persecuted religion on earth. Downplaying Christians as "easter (bunny?) worshippers" by Obama, Clinton et al makes my stomach turn.

[atyclb]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

11 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Fears of retaliatory sectarian violence has already caused Muslim communities to flee their homes

This repeated painting of muslims as the victims here is appalling. Let's be clear this was a horrific unprovoked attack by muslims against non-muslims. End of. Churches are under siege by these guys all over the world in huge numbers. There is no way an honest and fair narrative can be painting the aggressors as the victims. It has all been made so much more offensive by refusing to name the victims as long suffering Christians, the most persecuted religion on earth. Downplaying Christians as "easter (bunny?) worshippers" by Obama, Clinton et al makes my stomach turn.

 

imo it does not paint them as victims. simply tells it like it is that they indeed do have credible reason to fear retaliation.  the sri lanka government is trying to prevent more violence by anyone.

[Cats4ever]

Sensible people should stay away from mosques, churches and temples FULL STOP.

[thaibeachlovers]

5 hours ago, Cats4ever said:

Sensible people should stay away from mosques, churches and temples FULL STOP.

If they do that, the terrorists win. The authorities should pull finger and start doing their job, and that applies to all western countries. Too many are too PC and too reluctant to take money away from their pet projects to do a proper job.