Sri Lanka’s Catholics yesterday celebrated Mass in their homes via a TV broadcast as churches across the nation shut over fears of militant attacks, a week after the Islamic State-claimed Easter suicide bombings killed more than 250 people.
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, delivered a homily before members of the clergy and the country’s leaders in a small chapel at his Colombo residence — an extraordinary measure underlining the fear still gripping the nation of 21 million people.
“This is a time our hearts are tested by the great destruction that took place last Sunday,” Ranjith said. “This is a time questions such as, does God truly love us, does he have compassion toward us, can arise in human hearts.”
Photo: AP
In a rare show of unity, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa attended the Mass.
Their political rivalry and government dysfunction are blamed for a failure to act upon near-specific information received from foreign intelligence agencies that preceded the bombings, which targeted three churches and three luxury hotels.
Police yesterday afternoon entered the main mosque of National Thowheed Jama’ath, just a day after authorities declared the group and another organization terror groups over the bombings.
Police entered the mosque in Kattankudy in eastern Sri Lanka and stopped an interview among foreign journalists and mosque officials.
A senior police officer dispersed journalists waiting outside, saying that authorities were conducting a “cordon and search operation.”
Police then left, locking up the mosque just before afternoon prayers were to start.
Authorities banned the group over its ties to Mohammed Zahran, the alleged mastermind of the Easter attacks.
Police also announced the arrests of two of five people wanted in connection with the attacks after their pictures were distributed publicly.
Mohamed Ivuhayim Shahid Abdul Haq and Mohamed Ivuhayim Sadiq Abdul Haq were arrested in Nawalapitiya, 125km east of the capital, Colombo, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said.
The other three, all women, remained at large.
Police did not elaborate on what roles they might have played.
In the eastern district of Ampara, where a gunfight and explosions left 15 people dead following a police raid on Friday, soldiers guarded St Mary Magdalen’s Church.
A sign on the gate said the church and the school would be closed until Monday next week.
A nearby mosque also had soldiers stationed outside.
At the YMCA, a group of young girls held Sunday school near a portrait of Christ.
Sajith Liyanage, a 51-year-old Catholic, said he was worried and would watch Mass on TV.
“We can’t understand what the situation is right now,” Liyanage said.
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