On 21 April 2019, Easter Sunday, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in the commercial capital, Colombo, were targeted in a series of coordinated Islamic State (IS)-related terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, two smaller explosions occurred at a housing complex in Dematagoda and a guest house in Dehiwala. A total of 269 people were killed, with over 200 of them being Christians, including at least 45 foreign nationals, three police officers, and nine suicide bombers. An additional 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo; the hotels bombed included the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury and Tropical Inn. According to the State Intelligence Service, a second wave of attacks was planned, but was prevented due to government raids.
According to Sri Lankan government officials, all nine suicide bombers involved in the attacks were Sri Lankan citizens associated with National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ), a local Islamist militant group founded by Zahran Hashim, and known for attacks against Buddhists and Sufis or the Jamathei Millathu Ibrahim (JMI), a smaller group of youth.
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