Sri Lanka's Catholic church announced Thursday that it has cancelled all Sunday mass in churches across the island nation until further notice after warning of more possible attacks, days after it was announced that public mass would resume from 5 May.
All public church services were cancelled after the Easter Sunday bomb blasts that ripped through three churches and high-end hotels, killing 253 people and injuring 500 others.
- Sri Lanka on Sunday, 28 April, lifted the nationwide night curfew barring three areas
- Sri Lanka’s Defence Secy and Police Chief have resigned taking responsibility
- The health ministry on 25 April sharply revised the death toll downward to 253, saying the previous figure of 359 was due to a “calculation error”
- A state of emergency remains in effect to prevent further attacks
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Lankan Catholic Churches Cancel All Sunday Mass Until Further Notice
Sri Lanka's Catholic church announced Thursday that it has cancelled all Sunday mass in churches across the island nation until further notice after warning of more possible attacks, days after it was announced that public mass would resume from 5 May.
All public church services were cancelled after the Easter Sunday bomb blasts that ripped through three churches and high-end hotels, killing 253 people and injuring 500 others.
Three main churches which were conducting Easter Sunday mass were attacked by suicide bombers.
"His eminence the Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith has instructed that Sunday masses should not be held this week," Reverend Edmund Thilakaratne the spokesman for the Archbishop's House Reverend Edmund Thilakaratne said.
IS Planning New Strategy to Target Smaller Countries, Claims Prez Sirisena
It is quite possible that the Islamic States (IS) has launched a "new strategy" by beginning to target smaller countries, says Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, as reported by ANI.
IS had claimed the responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombings last month, which killed over 250 people in Sri Lanka.
In an interview with the Sky News, Sirisena said the authorities are aware of "a small group" of Sri Lankans, who have travelled abroad to receive training from the IS over the past decade.
He said the analysis of the explosives and devices taken into custody suggested that the bombs used in the coordinated terror attacks on April 21, which rattled several churches and high-end hotels across the country, were made locally.
Kerala Police on High Alert After SL Blasts
Kerala DGP Loknath Behera said that the state police is on high alert after Sri Lanka blasts.
“An alert has been issued to Indian Coast Guard, Commandos and Bomb Detachment Squad. An analysis of large volumes of technical data like phone calls, social media activities being done daily,” said Behera.
Sri Lanka Militants May Be Plotting More Attacks: US
The United States believes members of the militant group blamed for Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday attacks may be at large and planning more attacks, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz, said on Tuesday, 30 April, reported Reuters.