CCTV footage has emerged that shows one of the attackers wearing a large backpack entering St Sebastian’s Church in Sri Lanka before the explosion.
Video Credit: THE TIMES OF INDIA
A number of people can be seen in the video waiting outside the Church ahead of the attack on Easter.
Three churches and five-star hotels were targeted by seven suicide bombers in Sri Lanka on Sunday that killed 290 people and injured more than 500 people.
A survivor, Dilip Fernando said:
‘At the end of the mass, they [his family] saw one young man go into the church with a heavy bag. He touched my granddaughter’s head on the way past. It was the bomber.’
‘He was not excited or afraid. He was so calm. They heard it and quickly ran away, they were so afraid. They called me immediately to ask if I was inside the church, but by then I was in a different church.’
‘I’m so lucky because normally I would go to this church. We are relieved, we were so lucky but we’re really sad for the whole village’.
‘There are going to be huge funerals in this village soon. If the church was open this morning then I would have gone inside. We are not afraid. We won’t let terrorists win, no way.’
Sri Lankan authorities have blamed the attacks on an Islamist group – the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ). They say they have carried out the attacks with the help of an ‘International network’ of terrorists.
Sri Lankan officials also said they received an intelligence warning ten days before the attacks.
Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said:
‘We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country. There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.’
Recommended Video!
“Italian Ship Carrying Thousands Of Cars Catches Fire And Sinks In Atlantic Ocean”