Terror attack kills 156 on Easter sunday

[Whisky2014]

Targeted attack on Sri Lanka in hotels and churches. British and Americans amongst the dead.

Doesnt seem to be a thread about this..

I have nothing to add but was deeply sad to wake up to this news.

Which other news events? Does there have to be a competition between which terror attacks deserve more coverage?

Yes evidently it does, if you want to be a prat about the question. I was referring to news events and asking a genuine question; why some news events get rolling coverage (like Notre Dame did recently) and others just get the banner at the rolling bottom of the screen and a mention in the round up.

I'm slightly baffled that apparently, the security services issued warnings about today, but apparently there was no extra security in place. Or maybe I've misunderstood

I have always imagined that Sri Lanka, because of its history, would have an extensive security apparatus, but perhaps not?

200 people. That’s awful.

But I’ve read the news report on the BBC and none the wiser as to who is likely behind it.

Theyve locked down social media to stop fake news. Which is sensible but also means no one can register as safe on fb. Im waiting for an update on a sri lankan friend.

IncognitaIgnorama

Sri Lanka doesn’t have the sophistication of our secure forces

And given the day people would have still attended church it’s a deeply religious country

I see the government are already making their excuses for not dealing with intelligence

Thanks, Enthusiasm-it's somewhere I've wanted to visit for years, but I don't actually know very much about the current government or the security culture. Really interesting also - and inspiring - to know that it wouldn't have been a deterrent to people any way. Thanks for explaining to me

@redexpat oh my, really hope your friend is safe.

I was in church twice today and thought the whole time what it would be like for a bomb to go off. It seems so unthinkable, but that's what happened in Sri Lanka. And in NZ so recently too, people just quietly doing their thing and this happens. So shocking and awful.

I'm a bit shocked how little interest this seems to have sparked on MN tbh- Christchurch and Notre Dame rightly garnered pages of posts, but over 200 dead in Sri Lanka attacks we've hit two pages. I know there's a lot of sneering at Christianity on this site, but I am surprised that people don't feel upset and outrage over what has happened

This is terrible.

IncognitaIgnorama I honestly thinj people just don't care unless it directly affects them or is close to them. Much the same as climate change. Until their houses start to flood and they can buy certain foods they like due to droughts, people carry on not changing anything.
I'm sad for humanity right now.

206 people have died. Families wiped out. It's absolutely horrendous.

It is really sad news, esp as a Christian who was in church yesterday (and every other week), its hard to fathom how these people went to celebrate the most important event in the Christian calander, the resurrection of Christ, and then lost their own lives.
The people started out the day full of hope, looking forward to spending time with their families, planning their Easter lunch, nick like us. Except they didn't get to finish their day or their lives.
I believe in human nature and want to think that the Notre Dame caught our attention me as it is near by and many of us have been there. It is relatable. On an individual level in a world of sadness, where many of us have anxiety - it is hard to take on more sadness. So we brush it aside and focus on the happy.

The Sri Lankans are very sophisticated when it comes to anti-terrorism. The Tamil Tigers invented the suicide bomber. No one knows more about how to do a forensic investigation of the scene than the Sri Lankans.

The security forces had intel but didn't tell the govt.

Something very strange here.

It’s not indifference for many, it’s what on earth can you say? other than it’s a huge tragedy in a country that has already lived through so much violence, civil war and natural disasters.
What could you say that doesn’t sound trite?

What could you say that doesn’t sound trite?

Agree, Primrose. This often stops me posting on threads about things I care deeply about.

I also don't think it's lack of empathy of lack of shock at the horrific news.

And once it hit the news it's been headline news all day and remains so this morning.

It's just that people don't know what to post that isn't really just the equivalent of thoughts and prayers.

It's awful awful news, with the loss of life increasing all the time. Horrific. And so sad.

We tend to identify more we people that are like ourselves that’s just the way it is

And Sri Lanka is a country that has had a long history of terrorism so to many it doesn’t seem that shocking

Of course this type of news would be more shocking to many of it were from a European or western country on because of the history and secondly most will identify with the people more

So dreadfully sad

Unimaginable

Theyve found 87 detonators at the bus station in Columbia.

It's true that anything written sounds trite.

What truly despicable coordinated acts.

Late last night I saw, in a report on families looking for loved ones, what sounded a British man asking quietly about his wife and son. The particular does bring home the horror.

RIP to all those murdered.

Gosh, it's up to 290 dead, with more expected to come, according to the Telegraph

It seems to be a mix of motives - presumably 5* hotels is to attack foreigners and /or the tourist industry, but churches would indicate a motivation to attack indigenous Christians as well. Based on my - admittedly somewhat limited - knowledge, it's relatively unusual to combine the two in a single way like this: ordinarily, it's more of an either/or. Though perhaps Christianity is seen as a Western import, and so it's more anti-Western than anything? I don't know much about modern Sri Lanka, in all honesty, post-LTTE: from what the news reports seem to be saying, the terrorists themselves seem to have been Sri Lankan, and though they are talking about "foreign influences", I'm not sure to what extent this is likely to be accurate, and to what extent this is motivated by a very real feeling that "we don't have citizens who would just do this."

This must be the largest terrorist attack in SE Asia for decades, if not ever, surely?

The people who do this are often not the most sophisticated. See the varous attacks on Sikhs after 9/11, and the Bali bombers who thought Australians were Americans and therefore all Jews.

Just seen on the BBC news that a British man's wife and 2 kids were killed. He was the only survivor. Another family have lost 3 of their 4 kids.

The whole situation is dreadful, every single death is horrendous, but these 2 families. How absolutely awful.

Hi. I live in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The government is saying it’s a Muslim extremist group that’s behind the attack with possibly international connections. There were some more bombs found last night and today which were either defused or blown up by forces. Curfew here during the nights and yes we are blocked from social media (facebook/Viber/WhatsApp). This is such a small country and Colombo is so small that it’s frightening to think we could easily have been caught in this. I heard one of the bombs and can see the whole of Colombo from my apartment. I saw helicopters circling these places. A person my husband knows was killed as well as many people that my extended family knows. I was just at one of the hotels shangri la last week and we regularly go to these hotels. The Prime Minister was not informed of the warnings. Back in October the President removed the Prime Minister and replaced him with the ex president. However, as this was unconstitutional, he was forced to reinstate the Prime Minister. So there were/are problems there.
So sad to see how the general public in the west do not seem as upset as they were over other recent events that happened.