TERROR MASSACRE
Sri Lanka bombings – what happened on Easter Sunday in 2019?
A COORDINATED bomb attack on Easter Sunday 2019 saw explosions ripping through five-star hotels and churches in Sri Lanka, slaughtering more than 270 people.
It was the worst Islamist terror attack the country had ever seen. Now, one year later, BBC Two revisits the atrocity, with its investigative documentary 'Terror in Paradise'.
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What happened during the Easter Sunday attack?
The first reports of attacks came about 8.45am and six blasts happened within a short space of time.
Three were at churches - carried out as Christians attended Easter mass - and three were at luxury hotels.
Worshippers were ruthlessly targeted in the Kochchikade district of the capital, Colombo, in Negombo, to the north of the capital, and in the eastern city of Batticaloa.
Sri Lanka's Shangri-La, Kingsbury and Cinnamon Grand hotels in Colombo were also attacked.
Those blasts are thought to have been carried out by suicide bombers including one who studied in the UK.
Police said at least nine members of two little-known local Islamist outfits, the National Thawheedh Jamaath (NTJ) and Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim, carried out the bombings.
The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that was linked in 2018 to the destruction of Buddhist statues.
Hours after the first six bomb attacks were reported, there were two more fatal blasts in the city - an explosion at a hotel in Dehiwala and another in flats in Dematagoda.
In addition, a six-foot pipe bomb was intercepted and destroyed by the Air Force on the way to Colombo International Airport.
The atrocities came ten days after Sri Lanka's police chief issued alert on possible attacks.
This key intelligence was not passed on to the Sri Lankan government just days before the attacks.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, the Sri Lankan prime minister, acknowledged that “information was there” about possible attacks.
Two days after the attacks, ISIS claimed responsibility for the bombings and released a picture of the terror mastermind and seven henchmen responsible.
The death cult's Amaq news agency claimed that the terrorists involved in the attacks were "fighters of the Islamic State."
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What was the death toll?
The suicide bombs being triggered in churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka killed more than 270 people.
Over 500 people were injured in the blasts.
Among the dead were 35 foreigners, from the UK, America, the Netherlands, China, Turkey and Portugal.
Among the dead were British lawyer Anita Nicholson, 42, and her son Alex, 15 and daughter Annabel, who were queuing for breakfast at the Shangri-La hotel when a suicide bomber detonated a device at 8.30am.
Anita’s husband Ben survived the attack and frantically searched the wreckage for his family.
Daniel Linsey, 19, and Amelie Linsey, 15, were killed after escaping a suicide bomber in the Shangri-La hotel - only to run into a deadly second blast.
Lorraine Campbell, 55, from Manchester, was named the last of eight British victims killed in the Easter Sunday massacre.
Three children of Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen also died in the blasts.
Who were the suicide bombers?
One of the sick bombers, Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed, studied aerospace engineering at Kingston University between 2006 and 2007, according to
He was responsible for the smaller suicide blast at the Dehiwala hotel in southern Colombo hours after the later explosions.
Officials revealed that the twisted ISIS extremist also studied for a post-graduate degree in Australia.
Ilham Ibrahim, 36, the son of a millionaire spice tycoon, was understood to have set off the first bomb at the Shangri-La hotel.
An unverified video posted to social media claimed an ISIS-affiliated group was behind the attacks.
Seconds later YouTube Islamist ranter Zahran Hashim detonated a second device at the luxury hotel which left five Brits dead.
Police sources later confirmed Ilham’s 38-year-old brother Inshaf was the suicide bomber who blew up the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo.
Their warped family of hate is at the centre of the series of horrifying attacks in Sri Lanka.
The brothers' wealthy dad, Yoonis, who is also a trustee at the local mosque, was among more than 40 suspected jihadis in custody.
Police revealed that Ibrahim’s pregnant burka-clad wife Fatima was a key player in the bomb plot.
And when armed SWAT teams arrived at the couple’s home she killed herself, her three young sons, her unborn child and three cops with a suicide vest.
The video, purportedly from Al Ghuraba Media, run by supporters of the terror group, featured the chilling message: “This bloody day is our reward to you."
It also showed photos of three of the alleged suicide bombers.
The men were named as Abul Barra, Abul Mukhtar and Abu Ubaida and appeared in front of a black ISIS flag giving a one-finger salute.
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Which hotels and churches were affected?
Hotels frequented by tourists, the luxury Shangri-La Hotel, Cinnamon Grand and The Kingsbury Colombo, were targeted in the deadly series of blasts.
Worshippers were also attacked, with those at an Easter mass targeted at St Anthony's Shrine, a Catholic Church in Kochchikade, Colombo.
Blasts were also reported at St Sebastian's Church in Negombo, a majority Catholic town north of Colombo, and at Zion Church in the eastern town of Batticaloa - where more than 300 people are thought to have been injured.
- BBC Two's 'Terror in Paradise' airs tonight, April 6, at 9pm
Families weep as loved ones are laid to rest after Sri Lanka bombings
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