Photos: Mourning and Anguish After the Devastating Attacks in Sri Lanka

Alan Taylor
April 22, 2019
21 Photos
In Focus

On Easter Sunday, eight separate bombs tore through luxury hotels and churches in several locations across Sri Lanka, in a coordinated attack carried out by at least six suicide bombers. Authorities say the number of people killed in the attacks is now 290, with more than 500 receiving treatment for injuries. This was the deadliest violence in Sri Lanka since its civil war ended 10 years ago. Today in Colombo, another bomb was found and detonated by the police. Investigations have just begun, and police have arrested two dozen people so far; no organization has claimed responsibility. Today, in the affected towns in Sri Lanka, relatives are gathering at local morgues to identify their loved ones, some by watching a slideshow of photographs of the remains, hoping to catch a glance of a familiar bit of clothing or jewelry amid the horror. The first of hundreds of funerals took place today as well.

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Officials inspect the damaged St. Sebastian's Church, after multiple explosions targeted people in churches and hotels across Sri Lanka, on April 21, 2019, in Negombo, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka. #

Chamila Karunarathne / Anadolu Agency / Getty

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Lalitha weeps on the coffin with the remains of her 12-year-old niece, Sneha Savindi, who was a victim of the Easter Sunday bombing at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka, on April 22, 2019. #

Gemunu Amarasinghe / AP

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Security forces inspect the scene after a blast targeting the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 21, 2019. #

Chamila Karunarathne / Anadolu Agency / Getty

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A shoe of a victim is seen in front of St. Anthony's Church in Kochchikade after an explosion in Colombo on April 21, 2019. #

Dinuka Liyanawatte / Reuters

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A worker clears debris from inside St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo on April 22, 2019, a day after the church was hit in series of bomb blasts. #

Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty

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Security personnel inspect inside St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo on April 22, 2019. #

Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty

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An investigation marker is seen near belongings at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo on April 22, 2019. #

Athit Perawongmetha / Reuters

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In this April 21, 2019, photo, Sri Lankans carry a dead body from the bomb-damaged St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo. #

Chamila Karunarathne / AP

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Pope Francis delivers his Easter Urbi et Orbi blessing message from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on April 21, 2019, in Vatican City. The Pope lamented the Easter Sunday attacks on several churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, expressing closeness to the Christian community of Sri Lanka. #

Franco Origlia / Getty

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Staff at an Indian school pray for the victims of Sunday's blasts in Sri Lanka, in Ahmedabad, India, on April 22, 2019. #

Ajit Solanki / AP

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In Paris, France, the Eiffel Tower lights are dimmed just before midnight, as an homage to the victims of the Sri Lanka bombings, on April 21, 2019. #

Zakaria Abdelkafi / AFP / Getty

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People light candles on the Trocadéro, where they watched the Eiffel Tower go dark at midnight in Paris, during the night of April 21–22, 2019. #

Zakaria Abdelkafi / AFP / Getty

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People light candles for the victims of Sri Lanka's serial bomb blasts, outside a church in Peshawar, Pakistan, on April 21, 2019. #

Fayaz Aziz / Reuters

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A Pakistani Christian child looks on as adults light candles to pay tribute to Sri Lankan blast victims in Karachi on April 21, 2019. #

Rizwan Tabassum / AFP / Getty

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Sri Lankan hospital workers stand at the door to a morgue following a blast in a church in Batticaloa in eastern Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019. #

Lakruwan Wanniarachchi / AFP / Getty

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Relatives of blast victims mourn outside a police morgue in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 22 , 2019. #

Chamila Karunarathne / AP

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Relatives light candles after the burial of three victims of the same family, who died at the Easter Sunday bomb blasts at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, on April 22, 2019. #

Gemunu Amarasinghe / AP

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On April 22, 2019, a day after the deadly series of bombings, a Sri Lankan woman living near St. Anthony's Shrine runs for safety with her infant after police found explosive devices in a parked vehicle in Colombo. #

Eranga Jayawardena / AP

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Sri Lankan priests look at the debris of a car after it exploded when police tried to defuse a bomb near St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo on April 22, 2019, a day after the series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. #

Jewel Samad / AFP / Getty

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Local residents gather outside St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo on April 22, 2019, a day after the attacks. #

Mohd Rasfan / AFP / Getty

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The mother of Shaini, age 13, who died in bomb blasts that hit churches and luxury hotels on Easter, mourns at her wake, in Negombo, Sri Lanka, on April 22, 2019. #

Athit Perawongmetha / Reuters

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