Sri Lanka terrorist attacks kill 290; tourism sector reels as economic costs weigh on human tragedy

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Sri Lanka: A place of beauty defiled

Since the tragic and long-running internal war ended in 2009, Sri Lanka has been a country of peace. That all changed on Easter Sunday. It is now also a land, like my own, that has been defiled by terrorism.

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SRI LANKA. As a shocked nation counts the appalling human cost of the Easter Sunday bombings that struck churches and luxury hotels in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo, the economic impact of the terrorist attacks is also dawning. The country’s tourism sector, a vital source of revenue and employment, is certain to be hit hard by the tragedy.

The US government has issued a travel advisory and many other governments have urged extreme caution in travelling to the island nation. The Easter Sunday bombings mark the deadliest violence in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war in 2009.

As of early Monday afternoon local time, 290 people had been killed by the attacks and around 500 people injured, many seriously. It is not yet known who carried out the eight attacks.

Sri Lankan website Daily Mirror reports the rising human toll of the terrorist atrocities.

An improvised pipe bomb was also discovered close to Bandaranaike International Airport, the main gateway to Colombo and Sri Lanka, on Sunday. It was defused by the Sri Lanka airforce. The pipe bomb was found on a road leading towards the main terminal, which remains open with heavy security, according to local reports.

“It is a terrible, terrible situation,” Colombo-based Rakhita Jayawardena, President of King Power Traveler Company and Chairman of the Ceylon Electricity Board, told The Moodie Davitt Report. Jayawardena and his family are safe, having been abroad at the time of the attacks.

Atul Ahuja, CEO of Flemingo, which runs departures and arrivals duty free shops at Bandaranaike International, said that all his team were safe. We will bring you an update from Dufry, which also operates at the airport, as soon as possible.

The Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo, where one of the attacks took place, issues a statement about the attack.
The US Department of State has issued a level 2 travel advisory, urging travellers to “exercise increased caution” in Sri Lanka.

 

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