Easter Sunday turned into a “river of blood“ at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, plagued for decades with indigenous terror attacks by the Tamil Tiger minority. Killing at least 290 with the death toll rising, early police reports tie the mayhem to the NTJ [National Thwoheeth Jama’ath] Islamic terror group, linked last year to desecrating Buddhist statues, much like the Taliban did in Afghanistan. Targeting Christians, only 6% of Sri Lanka’s population, was especially egregious considering the waves of radical Islamic terrorism hitting the United States, Europe, Middle East and West and East Africa. While the coordinated massacre was thought at first tied to Sinhalese Buddhists, news reports confirm the NTJ. Sri Lanka authorities received threats last week about the radical Islamic NTJ. Two suicide bombers, typical of radical Islam, detonated suicide vests in the buffet line of Easter brunch at Cinnamon Hotel in Colombo.
Sri Lanka’s Police Chief Pujuth Jayasundara said intel reports 10 days ago warned about possible suicide bombings, without specifying targets. Jayasundara wants to know why Sri Lanka authorities couldn’t have intercepted the terror cell before the mayhem took place. “A foreign intelligence Agency has reported that the NJT is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian High Command in Colombo,” read the intel report. Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe acknowledged that police authorities knew for 10 days of a possible terrorist-attack-in-the-making. Looking back involves second guessing much like the March 19 lone wolf mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 with 50 nonfatal injuries, where authorities picked up chatter but couldn’t pinpoint the massacre until after it occurred.
Sri Lanka’s coordinated Easter Sunday attack today returns back to the radical Islamic attacks all too familiar with groups like the now defunct Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], and al-Qaeda, the perpetrators of Sept. 11. Sri Lanka’s Economic Minister Harasha de Silva reported “horrific scenes” at historic St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo. Sri Lanka’s capital. Suicide bombers left body parts scattered in the pews, with the roof blown off by the suicide blast. “I saw body part strewn all over,” said de Silva. Soaked in blood, a St. Anthony’s priest said, “it was a river of blood.” Shortly after St. Anthony’s blast, a second suicide bombing hit Zion Church on the east coast in the town of Batticaloa. Three hotels in Coloumbo, the Cinnamon Grand, the Shangri-La and the Kingsbury were also hit by the terrorists. Sri Lanken citizens were shell-shocked, recalling past attacks from the Tamil Tigers.
Cinnamon Grand manager confirmed as suicide blast, killing untold numbers of hotel guests in the hotel’s dining room. Terrorists struck soft targets unprepared to defend against coordinated attacks on Sri Lanka citizens. “He [the suicide bomber] came up to the top to the queue and set off the blast,” said the Cinnamon Grand manager. Three Sri Lanka police were killed by a suicide blast while investigating terrorists in a residential neighborhood in Colombo’s suburb. “We don’t want the country to go back to the dark past where we had to live in the fear of suicide blast all the time,” said Gabriel whose brother was injured in St. Sebastian, refusing to give his surname. Government officials can’t take the Easter Sunday massacre lightly, doubling down on finding Islamic terror cells around the country. Wickeremesinghe pledged to “wipe out this menace once and for all.”
Sri Lanka’s massacre underscores the ongoing fight that all nations must take to deal with radical Islamic terrorism, too often excused because of various political causes. Even when Osama bin Laden struck the World Trade Center Twin Towers with jetliners Sept. 11, 2001 killing 2,996, injuring 6,000, there were some excusing the attacks as caused by misguided U.S. foreign policy. Since Sept. 11, nations have condemned terrorism, whatever the source, regardless of political excuses. Today’s unthinkable attacks in Churches might have been retaliation for the March 19 attack by a lunatic white nationalist in Christchurch, New Zealand. Colombo Archbishop Malcom Ranjith said it best, calling the terrorists “animals,” calling on Sri Lanka authorities to “punish them mercilessly.” When former President George W. Bush went after Bin Laden, he found bringing perpetrators to justice wasn’t easy.
Faced with their own 9/11, Sri Lanken authorities must join the global fight against radical Islamic terrorism. Today’s attacks makes the 37-yar-old Tamil cause for independence all the more unacceptable. Whatever rights Tamils seek in Sri Lanka, it can’t be won by violence against civilians. President Donald Trump found out the hard way that ISIS could not be placated in Syria or anywhere else. Civilized nations must band together to fight violent extremism, wherever it’s found, regardless of political motivations. Attacking Sri Lanka’s Christian minority shows the barbarity of radical Islamic terrorism, hitting any civilian target wherever there’s vulnerability. Trump should reach out to Sri Lanka authorities to give whatever intel is available to protect against future attacks. Trump found out only a single-minded strategy committed to eradicating radical Islamic terrorism works.
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