One Year Since Easter Sunday Attacks in Sri Lanka
The deadliest suicide bombings in Sri Lanka’s recent history occurred one year ago on Easter Sunday shocking the island nation and the governments around the world. In the space of half an hour from 8:45 AM on April 21, 2019, nine suicide bombers belonging to National Thawheeth Jama'ath (JTJ) a local jihadist group carried a series of coordinated bombings targeting catholic churches and luxury hotels. Hours after the terrorist strike, the casualties from the Easter Sunday attacks rose to 279 and the number of injured were 593. Moreover, the perpetrators of the sickening act saw the highest numbers of child casualties during the carnage (United Nations Children's Fund, 2019). The same night a state of emergency was declared by the Sri Lankan government because of a particular dangerous situation that could have unfolded in the country following the attacks.
In an effort to prevent a wave of revenge attacks a countrywide curfew was imposed. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan authorities were hard at work to accurately determining the terrorist’s involvement in these suicide bombings. Two days after the bloody attacks Sri Lankan authorities declared a national day of mourning. In St. Sebastian's Church in Katuwapitiya alone as many as 120 worshipers were killed during the carnage. Family members wept uncontrollably over the victim’s coffins as they bid farewell to their loved once during a mass burial for the victims at a cemetery near St Sebastian's church in Negombo. The natural feeling of sadness was felt by the entire 1.2 million Sri Lankan Catholic’s in the wake of the mass burials.
Investigating the Easter Sunday Attacks
Two days after the terrorist attacks the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS) claimed responsibility for the bombings in Sri Lanka. The preliminary investigations showed that Sri Lankan radical Islamic ideologue Imam Zahran Hashim, masterminded the plots. Further, the Sri Lankan Police recognised all the nine suicide bombers. Hashim the ringleader of the bombings was the founder of an Islamic organization called the “National Thawheed Jamathâ€(NTJ). The mastermind was from a small Muslim coastal town of Kattankudy in the eastern province of the island. In fact, the bombs used in the brutal attacks were made locally. Two of the nine bombers Imsath Ahmed Ibrahim and Ilham Ahmed were the sons of a Colombo based wealthy spice trader. Another suicide bomber identified, as Abdul Lathief Jameel Mohamed was a Britain and educated in Australia. Jameel Mohamed was the first Sri Lankan to pledge allegiance to IS in Syria. To prevent further terrorist attacks, country’s counter-terrorism units undertook massive search operation. On 26th April 2019 evening about 372 kilometers from Colombo in the Eastern coastal town of Sainthamaruthu a shootout between the Sri Lankan security forces and the suspected National Thowheeth Jama'ath Islamist militants ensued . In this raid the security forces recovered bomb-making materials including thousands of small metal balls, and suicide vests from the suspected safe house. The bodies of 15 people were found following a shootout in Sainthamaruthu . Furthermore, for the first few weeks after the bombings the authorities arrested nearly 300 individuals in connection with the suicide bombings.
Commission of Inquiries
Meanwhile one month after the deadly attacks the Speaker of the Parliament appointed a nine-member special Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to probe the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks. The 1,649-page parliamentary investigation found that former head of the state intelligence service, (SIS) is mainly accountable for the intelligence failure that led to the deadly Easter Sunday carnage. Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) further noted “ The president failed on numerous occasions to give leadership and also actively undermined government and systems including having ad hoc national Security Council meetings while leaving out key individuals from meetingsâ€.
During the later part of 2019 Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena appointed a five-member committee to examine allegations of intelligence inputs being disregarded and interconnected mistakes that might have led to the Easter Sunday bombings.
After the completion of the preliminary inquiries, the first interim report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry was handed over to the new Sri Lankan President on December 20th, 2019. Additionally, the Presidential Commission was tasked with completing the second interim report to probe into the attacks. The second interim report was prepared along responsible lines to further narrow gaps from first Interim report. This report was handed over to Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 2nd March 2020.
Easter Sunday 2020
The families of those killed or injured on that fateful day naturally have deep emotional pain with traumatic memories. In a Easter service message this year the Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, emphasized “Last year, some misguided youths attacked us and we as humans could have given a human and selfish response," “But we meditated on Christ's teachings and loved them, forgave them and had pity on them†(Vatican news, 2020)
On 21st April 2020 the nation will mark the first anniversary of one of the worst terror attack on the island nation’s soil. Meanwhile deliberation continues about how to de radicalize youth in the coming years. For internal stability of the nation in 2020 and beyond it is important for Sri Lankan policy makers to have a well aligned national security policy to foster peace building and reconciliation while carving out a well thought counterterrorism strategy.
Pic Courtsey-Srimal Fernando
(Srimal Fernando is a Doctoral Fellow at Jindal School of International Affairs (JSIA), India and a Global Editor of Diplomatic Society for South Africa. He is the winner of the 2018/2019 ‘Best Journalist of the Year’ award in South Africa, and has been the recipient of GCA Media Award for 2016.)
