Residents of multiethnic Batticaloa town in Sri Lanka grieve for church attack victims as faith leaders call for unity.
The blast rocked the Protestant Zion Church just before Easter mass was to begin. Some survivors said they thought the church’s generator had caught fire and exploded.
It was only when they heard the news of a series of bombings in and near the capital, Colombo, on the western coast of Sri Lanka, that they realised their church had come under attack.
Sunday’s explosion in Batticaloa – about 300km east of Colombo – which authorities said was a suicide bombing, was the worst violence to hit the multiethnic city since the end of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war a decade ago.
At least 26 were killed and more than 100 wounded.
Among the dead was Pastor Ganeshamoorthy Thirukumaran’s teenage son.
Sobbing inconsolably after laying his son’s remains to rest on Monday, Thirumakaran said it was he who had welcomed the suspected attacker into the church.
He was not a familiar face at the church, said the pastor. But “I asked him to sit down and stepped outside the building. Moments later, the bomb exploded,” he said.
Inside the church were some 300 worshippers, including Esther, who only gave her first name. The woman, who was in her 30s, said some members of the congregation “grew suspicious” of the newcomer and tried to walk him out of the church.
Then, a powerful explosion rocked the building, blowing out windows and covering worshippers inside with ash. The floor was littered with bodies and body parts.
At the mortuary, grieving relatives said some of the victims’ bodies were burned beyond recognition. They reported multiple deaths in many families.
