Sri Lankans remember Easter bomb victims at home amid virus

Sri Lankans commemorated the anniversary of last year’s Easter Sunday bomb attacks mainly from their homes on Tuesday amid the coronavirus pandemic. More than 260 people were killed when three churches came under simultaneous suicide bomb attacks during Easter celebrations on April 21 2019. Public memorials organised to mark the anniversary were cancelled amid a rise in coronavirus patients. “We are grateful to those friendly nations that generously shared the intelligence information prior to the attack on several occasions, which our political leaders unfortunately did not take seriously,” said Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital. The police chief and the secretary to the defence ministry at the time of the attacks are facing legal action over their alleged negligence. Police earlier this month arrested the brother of a former Cabinet minister and a lawyer for alleged links to the suicide bombers.