Sri Lanka Easter Bombings – British mum and two kids feared among 207 killed by suicide bombers in Easter Sunday terror attacks
A BRITISH mum and her two children are feared to be among at least 207 killed by suicide bombers in Sri Lanka yesterday.
Anita Nicholson, 42, son Alex and daughter Annabel were in a breakfast queue when a blast devastated their hotel. Husband Ben survived the attack, one of eight bombings.
Shocked witnesses to the Sri Lanka atrocity told of the carnage as fanatics detonated suicide bombs in busy hotels and churches packed with Easter Sunday worshippers.
The terrorists set off six bombs simultaneously just before 9am then two more as they fled police, killing at least 207 peoeple and injuring a further 450.
A shopkeeper who ran into one of the bombed churches to help victims said: “There was a river of blood. Ash was falling like snow.”
Sri Lanka Defence Secretary Harsha de Silva said: “Horrible scenes, I saw many body parts strewn all over.”
At least five Britons are among those confirmed dead but it is feared the toll will rise.
I saw many body parts strewn all over.
Sri Lanka Defence Secretary Harsha de Silva
A number of bodies are still unidentified and last night a total of nine foreigners were known to be missing. A further 25 bodies who are believed to possibly be foreigners are yet to be identified.
British lawyer Anita Nicholson, 42, and her children Alex and Annabel are thought to have died as they queued for breakfast in the Shangri-La hotel in capital Colombo.
It is believed that a terrorist joined the food queue before detonating his bomb as he was about to be served.
Anita’s husband Ben survived the attack and desperately searched the wreckage for his family.
A message on social media suggested Alex was initially listed as missing after his mum and sister were identified among the fatalities.
Friends of Alex posted a picture of him and said: “Please help us find him. He was at Shangri-La. His mother and sister died and now his father is frantically looking for him.”
But Rohan Amarasekera, manager of Sri Lankan holiday specialist Andrew The Travel Company, later said Alex had died.
‘PLEASE HELP US’
He added: “Alex has passed away, our sympathies. His body has been identified. His dad is OK, but his mum has passed away also.”
Ben, also a lawyer, suffered injuries that are not life-threatening.
The terrorists targeted three Colombo hotels popular with foreigners, the Shangri-La, the Kingsbury and the Cinnamon Grand.
Bombs were detonated in the dining area as guests had breakfast. Security camera footage showed two men detonating devices in Shangri-La’s Table One restaurant and a hotel corridor.
BLASTS HIT PARADISE
The terrorists, believed to be religious fanatics, also struck at three churches as worshippers took mass. More than 50 died at the Catholic St Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo.
Around 25 more were also killed at the Zion Church, in Batticaloa, around 300km from Colombo.
There were many more deaths at St Sebastian’s in Negombo, a town, north of Colombo. Father Edmond Tillekeratne described seeing around 30 dead bodies.
10-DAY WARNING
AUTHORITIES in Sri Lanka were warned ten days ago that Muslim terrorists were planning an assault on Christians.
Reports say the country’s police chief Pujuth Jayasundara issued an intelligence alert to top officers warning that suicide bombers planned to hit “prominent churches”.
Documents claim terrorists from the NTJ — who vandalised Buddhist statues last year — were plotting an assault.
The alert said: “A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo.”
It is not known what action was taken but government officials said only hours after the Easter Sunday massacre they know who was behind the attack.
Earlier this year an IS terror training camp was found and destroyed in Sri Lanka. Last November, deluxe hotels reported cancellations and a decline in bookings as two prime ministers battled for power amid fears of a “bloodbath”.
And in March last year a spate of anti-Muslim riots damaged the island’s reputation as a tourist destination.
Three people died and dozens of Muslim establishments were left in ruins in Kandy.
He said: “You can see pieces of flesh thrown all over the walls and on the sanctuary and even outside of the church.” Two more devices exploded as police closed in on the terror cell. Three police officers were killed in an explosion as they arrested eight people.
An eighth bomb ripped through a hotel on the outskirts of the capital as police pursued suspects.
A ninth bomb was found and safely destroyed at Sri Lanka’s Colombo International airport just hours after the attacks.
Troops from the country’s air force found a six-foot pipe bomb during a routine patrol.
It is not yet known who is responsible for the attacks.
There has long been a bitter ethnic divide between the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese and the minority Hindi, Muslim and Christian Tamil communities.
Around 7.6 per cent of the population is Christian.
Between 1983 and 2009 the country suffered a civil war that left up to 100,000 dead and up to 800,000 homeless.
EASTER MASSACRE
The attack marks the worst violence since the conflict ended.
The Nicholson family lived in Upminster, Essex, before moving to South East Asia in 2010 when Anita, a former Treasury lawyer, was posted to Singapore. She worked for the Anglo American diamond mining firm.
Ben worked for a Singapore legal firm. Facebook photos show the family enjoying a recent trip to London. Alex is pictured posing with British Lions stars Owen Farrell and George North.
The Nicholson family are believed to have been in Sri Lanka for around a week.
A Sri Lankan government source said: “Three people from the same family. It’s really terrible.”
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said “several British nationals” were killed in the attacks. He added: “To target those gathered for the simple act of worship on Easter Sunday is unspeakably wicked.”
Let us stand with the people of Sri Lanka in prayer, condolence and solidarity as we reject all violence, all hatred and all division.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “Those affected by the appalling and despicable attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka will be in the prayers of millions marking Easter Sunday around the world today.
“On this holy day, let us stand with the people of Sri Lanka in prayer, condolence and solidarity as we reject all violence, all hatred and all division.”
Two of the five confirmed British fatalities are said to have dual UK and US nationality.
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