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SRILANKA-ATTACKS-RELIGION
Sri Lanka to air Sunday mass on TV as attack threat persists
COLOMBO, May 4, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church will televise
a private Sunday mass after cancelling regular services over fears of a
repeat of Easter’s suicide bombings, even as police and troops tightened
security.
Father Edmund Tillakaratne said public masses were suspended for a second
week amid fears of a repeat jihadi strike, but a service conducted by
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith will be broadcast on national television.
Police, meanwhile, said they were stepping up search operations over the
weekend ahead of a planned re-opening of over 10,000 public schools after an
extended Easter vacation.
Some 257 people were killed in a string of suicide bombings against three
churches and three luxury hotels on April 21.
“We will not allow any parking near public schools from Sunday afternoon,”
police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said. “Search operations will be
intensified as part of tighter security.”
Police and troops across the country had recovered small quantities of
explosives, guns, swords, daggers and kris knives, Gunasekera said.
“We will grant a two-day amnesty for people to surrender such weapons,” he
added. Despite the tight security, Catholic churches will remain shut on
Sunday, a spokesman said, adding that a private mass will be telecast live
from the residence of the Archbishop.
“It will be like last Sunday when we had a service at Archbishop’s chapel
and telecast it live,” spokesman Edmond Tillakaratne told AFP.
Ranjith, also archbishop of Colombo, said Thursday a “reliable foreign
source” had alerted him to possible attacks this weekend, leading him to
cancel Sunday services for a second week.
“The information we have from a reliable foreign source is that attackers
are planning to hit a very famous church and a Catholic institution,” the
Cardinal said in a statement.
– Basilica secured –
Official sources said the Thewatte National Basilica, just outside Colombo,
was the suspected target, and the military deployed hundreds of troops to
search the area.
“There were no explosives found, but we have stepped up security in the
neighbourhood,” a police official said.
Although the 10,194 public schools re-open on Monday, a few Catholic
schools will remain shut “until further notice”.
Sri Lankan authorities had advance warnings from Indian intelligence of the
impending Easter attacks, but police and security forces failed to act.
There were at least 42 foreigners among the 257 killed, while some 480 were
also wounded. About 50 children were among the dead.
Armed guards have been stationed outside hotels, churches, Buddhist temples
and mosques across the country since the attacks.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Friday that some of the
conspirators may still be at large.
“Most of those responsible for the Easter attacks have been arrested. Some
have been killed,” Wickremesinghe said during a tour of island’s east, where
a Christian church was hit.
“We are trying to see if there are any more secret IS cells in the
country,” he said. “We will ensure that IS terrorism will be eradicated from
our land.”
Sri Lanka bolstered security Friday with fears of attacks against several
bridges and flyovers in Colombo as well as police stations.
The attacks were blamed on the local National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ)
whose leader was among the suicide bombers. The group had pledged an oath of
allegiance to the Islamic State group.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1850 hrs