Colombo - Sri Lankans scoured hospitals
and morgues for missing loved ones on Monday, a day after
suicide bomb attacks on churches holding Easter services and
luxury hotels killed 290 people and wounded about 500.
Outside the national hospital in Colombo, a woman named
Rameshwary said she was searching for a 17-year-old friend who
attended morning mass at St. Anthony's Shrine, one of three
Catholic churches hit in the coordinated attack.
"We kept calling her after we heard of the incident, but
there was no response," she said, showing a photograph of the
missing girl on her mobile phone.
Sri Lanka is predominately Buddhist but its 22 million
people include Christians, Muslims and Hindus.
The military for decades battled ethnic minority Tamil
separatists, most of them Hindu, but violence had largely ended
since a government victory 10 years ago.
No group claimed responsibility for Sunday's attacks.
Colombo, the seaside capital of the Indian Ocean island, was
jittery on Monday, with rumours of more blasts spooking
residents as police searched for the bombers. Another device
exploding while a bomb squad tried to defuse it.
A curfew for a second night went into effect at 8 p.m.
A Sri Lankan woman living near St. Anthony's shrine runs for safety with her infant after police found explosive devices in a parked vehicle in Colombo. Picture: Eranga Jayawardena/AP
Most of the 290 dead and 500 wounded were Sri Lankans
although government officials said 32 foreigners were killed.
Many of the dead have yet to be identified.
Catholic priests joined relatives and friends trying to put
names to the dead at one mortuary.
A man said a friend was searching for his sister, Kiruba,
who had gone to Sunday mass. They looked for her at the bombed
church and a nearby hospital, but had found no trace.
"That's why we came here," the man told Reuters Television.
'NO INFORMATION'
Family members of one of three policeman killed said they
grew worried when he did not answer his phone after the attacks.
"Then we got a police message saying he had died," said
Ranjith Wijesinghe, a relative of the officer.
Survivors described scenes of carnage at the churches where
worshippers had gathered. Pictures showed bodies on the ground
and blood-spattered pews and statues.
M.M. Mohomed, a Colombo shopkeeper, was searching for a
missing employee amid the shattered and scorched pews and broken
concrete of St. Anthony's.
People who live near the church that was attacked yesterday, leave their houses as the military try to defuse a suspected van before it exploded in Colombo. Picture: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters
"There is no information about her since she left the shop,"
he said. "Her parents are at the emergency service searching for
her. I went to the police morgue to see if she was there."
Suicide bombers also targeted three hotels in Colombo at the
same time, as guests gathered at buffet breakfasts.
Closed circuit video footage showed a man wearing a backpack
enter the Taprobane restaurant at the Cinnamon Grand hotel and
begin to eat, an employee told Reuters.
"He had a couple of servings. He came right to the centre of
the restaurant and blew himself up," said the employee who
declined to be identified.
An employee of the Kingsbury Hotel said he was standing near
the hotel's Harbour Court restaurant when a blast shook the
building.
"Guests who had come for breakfast were lying on the floor,
blood all over," he said.
"We just picked up everyone, dead or alive, and evacuated
them."