World

Editor Jesse Starcher

On Easter Sunday, Sri Lankan Christians and citizens gathered at churches across Sri Lanka. In the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, an explosion would occur at the Shrine of St. Anthony, instantly well over 50 people would be killed. More explosions would occur across the nation, both at churches and hotels. By the end of it approximately 359 people would be killed, with many more seriously injured, among them both foreigners and Sri Lankans alike.

It came as a shock to many, emergency powers would be enacted and social media would be restricted to prevent panic. It became very clear very quickly that Christians were the target for whoever was behind these attacks, and soon after, the Islamic State would come forward and claim responsibility. National Thowheeth Jama'ath, a Sri Lankan Islamic Extremist group, known for clashing with the Buddhist Majority in Sri Lanka, is also involved.

The nine bombers were lead by Zahran Hashim, an extremist who had already claimed allegiance to the Islamic State. He had gone underground in 2017 after fighting with other Muslims who opposed his beliefs. The police have claimed that most of the attackers were middle-class, and well educated, one of which had even studied abroad in the UK and Australia. Hashim is believed to have been killed in one of the attacks on the hotels.

Many suspects have been reported to be involved and the nation has begun a nationwide search to root out extremists and terrorists. President Maithripala Sirisena has blamed the attacks on officials that failed to take previous warnings on the attacks seriously, and has promised to fully reform the nation’s security forces and systems to prevent more attacks. However, Mr. Sirisena, who is also the nations defense minister, has also faced large amounts of criticism and blame for the attacks.

Many officials had indeed written memos including warnings and addresses of suspects to the leader as much as ten days before the attacks, however, Mr. Sirisena claims he never received such memos. Mr. Sirisena has also blamed the defense secretary, Hemasiri Fernando, and the inspector general of the police, Pujith Jayasundara, both of which have resigned due to fierce criticism. Mr. Sirisena has stated, “They did not say a word about this warning letter,” Mr. Sirisena said. “It was a serious lapse on their part and shirk of responsibility.”

Many Sri Lankans have blamed the attacks on large amounts of infighting and personal rivalry within the government. It seems that even this attack has not helped the government band together, with many officials pointing fingers. Typically, we see human tragedy bring people together, however it seems that this tragedy has not only missed most of the public’s eye, but has also failed to help the Sri Lankan government unite together to prevent situations like this.