A major terror attack involving bombings in six separate locations have killed and wounded dozens of people. News.com.au. At least 42 people have been killed and 160 wounded with those numbers expected to rise. Three churches and three hotels have been targeted in the attacks. There have been no immediate clams of responsibility.
Live Updates:
My Comment:
This is a breaking news story, so much of this information could be out of date quickly. That's why I posted links to the live updating stories. Sky News is already claiming that the death toll in one of these churches alone is more than 50 and that 300 people have been taken to one hospital. If those numbers are true this is one of the worst terror attacks in recent memory. They are also saying that the bombings were likely suicide bombings, though that hasn't been confirmed yet either.
It is very unclear who is responsible for this attack. I know that Sri Lanka had a long insurgency with the Tamil Tigers but they have been defeated militarily. There may be some holdouts and they have been known to use suicide bombings in the past.
However, the choice of targets makes me think it's not them. The Tamils are nationalists and have little reason to attack churches and hotels. They are secular and have members from every religion in Sri Lanka and it would make little sense for them to antagonize their Christian members. It's also possible that it was an attack from Hindus or Buddhists, but that seems unlikely to say the least.
Islamic terrorism is another possibility. Sri Lanka doesn't have that many Muslims, but they are a decent sized minority and both churches and hotels are fairly frequent targets for groups like ISIS or al-Qaeda. They also have a long history of suicide bombings and major terror attacks like this one. If I had to put money on it, I'd say this is Islamic terrorism, but it's still too soon to tell.
A major piece of evidence for it being Islamic terrorism is the date. Today is Easter in the Christian world, which is one of the most important holidays for the religion. Attacking on holidays is another major tactic of Islamic terror groups like ISIS.
It does seem terror attacks on religious sites have become rather common. In addition to the obvious and extreme attacks against Christians and churches, there have been many attacks Mosques, both by Muslims and non-Muslims. And there have been a few Synagogue attacks as well. It's possible that there is a trend here, but I'm not sure what the baseline is. Still, there are a lot of these attacks happening lately and I wonder if it might be another case of the idea spreading because of news coverage and notoriety.
I also think that attacks on churches and hotels make sense from a terrorists perspective. They rarely have strong security and are places were large numbers of people gather. Ignoring all the political and religious reasons, choosing them as targets makes a lot of sense.
I am somewhat worried that this wave of attacks might not be finished and could continue in other countries. This was clearly a very well organized and powerful plot so there is no reason it couldn't be an international one. It's also possible that it could either inspire "lone wolf" attackers or cause other terrorists to move their plots forward sooner. Either way, I will be paying very close attention to the news today even as I myself visit with my family for the Easter holiday.
No comments:
Post a Comment