{"id":17133,"date":"2019-04-21T16:06:48","date_gmt":"2019-04-21T16:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=17133"},"modified":"2019-04-21T16:06:48","modified_gmt":"2019-04-21T16:06:48","slug":"35-americans-britons-dutch-among-killed-in-sri-lanka-terror-attacks-buhari-mourns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=17133","title":{"rendered":"35 Americans, Britons, Dutch among killed in Sri Lanka terror attacks; Buhari mourns"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Muhammadu Buhari has joined in on-going mourning over the death of over 150 persons after a series of attacks targeted at Christians in Churches and other locations in Sri Lanka.
\nIn an update, officials said no fewer than 35 foreigners, including Americans, Britons and Dutch, died when a string of coordinated bombings hit high-end hotels and churches in and around the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo on Sunday during Easter services.
\nPolice have revised the death toll upwards, from 137 to 156.
\nThe coordinated blasts took place at 8:45 a.m. local time.
\nPresident Muhammadu Buhari, according to a statement by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, expressed shock and sadness over the terrible attacks on several churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on the holy day of Easter.
\nOn behalf of the government and people of Nigeria, the President extends deepest condolences to the families of those killed in the attacks and wishes speedy recovery to the injured.
\n\u201cWe stand with victims of terrorism all over the world because we know and understand this harrowing inhuman activity,\u201d the President said.
\nNoting that Nigeria stands with the people of Sri Lankan at this terrible moment, President Buhari urges the authorities not to spare the wicked elements behind these mischievous attacks.
\nForeigners were among the dead in Colombo, Sri Lanka Health Services director general Anil Jasinghe said
\nAt least six explosions have been reported. Three churches in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa were targeted during Easter services.
\nAt least 400 people were injured and were undergoing treatment, an employee at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka said by phone.
\nSri Lanka\u2019s police chief made a nationwide alert 10 days before Sunday\u2019s bomb attacks in the country that suicide bombers planned to hit \u201cprominent churches\u201d, according to the warning seen by AFP.
\nPolice chief Pujuth Jayasundara sent an intelligence warning to top officers on April 11 setting out the threat.
\n\u201cA foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama\u2019ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,\u201d said the alert.
\nThe NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that came to notice last year when it was linked to the vandalization of Buddhist statues.
\nSri Lanka\u2019s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned the string of blasts that killed at least 137 people on Sunday as \u201ccowardly\u201d and said the government was working to \u201ccontain the situation.\u201d
\n\u201cI strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today,\u201d he said in a tweet from his verified account.
\n\u201cI call upon all Sri Lankans during this tragic time to remain united and strong The government is taking immediate steps to contain this situation.\u201d
\n\u201cEmergency meeting called in a few minutes. Rescue operations underway,\u201d Sri Lanka\u2019s Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution, Harsha de Silva, said in a tweet on his verified account.
\nHe said he had been to two of the attacked hotels and was at the scene at St Anthony\u2019s Shrine and described \u201chorrible scenes”.
\nAdditional reports by NAN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Muhammadu Buhari has joined in on-going mourning over the death of over 150 persons after a series of attacks targeted at Christians in Churches and other locations in Sri Lanka. In an update, officials said no fewer than 35 foreigners, including Americans, Britons and Dutch, died when a string of coordinated bombings hit high-end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":17134,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}