Sri Lanka Attacks - 300+ Killed As Hotels & Churches Targeted

[Dr. Gonzo]

1 hour ago, Danny said:

A lot of protesting and raising awareness for Falun Gong in Sydney and Auckland. People have their organs harvested and then sold onto the rich. Crazy.

On topic this is a pretty horrific event, RIP.

This is well off topic now, but yeah it’s really shit what’s happening with them. Persecution and organ harvesting is obviously awful.

But Falun Gong is also a very weird religion, very much a cult of personality - where the head of the religion proclaims himself as a sort of messiah figure. Considering China’s history with the boxer rebellion, that’s going to be cracked down on in an authoritarian government that’s anti-religion.

That obviously doesn’t excuse human rights violations, though

[6666]

As with every attack of this sort, it's difficult to even know how someone gets to the point where they think doing this makes sense. Not sure how good Sri Lanka's intelligence is but hopefully they stamp out these terrorist groups. RIP to the victims.

[IgnisExcubitor]

15 hours ago, Fairy In Boots said:

Not really the basis for my comment, there were 2 incidents last year in the south I was referring to. I do appreciate that India is more of a complex beast than just Hindus hating Christians etc. 

Fair enough. I am not going to deny that compared to first world countries, ours is a violent culture - and that includes all religions and ethnicities (may it be Hindus in North and central parts, Muslims in east and central parts or Kashmir or Christians in North East). I just hate this narrative thing the media is obsessed with, where it selectively highlights  crimes. Something that will instantly stop once the right wing government loses power. 

 

15 hours ago, nudge said:

 

Apparently knew several days in advance and in typical desi fashion did nothing about it. Politicians and government officials in our regions are the worst. 

EDIT

Fuck politicians. 

[Mel81x+]

1 hour ago, IgnisExcubitor said:

Apparently knew several days in advance and in typical desi fashion did nothing about it. Politicians and government officials in our regions are the worst. Fuck politicians. 

That's what is so oddly confusing about all this. They knew ahead of time what might happen and yet did nothing. I saw a twitter feed where a person in government went over the letter and asked "why nothing was done?" and the response was that it was considered non-threatening. I don't understand how a country that has had the kind of terrorism inflicted on it can take anything so lightly.

[IgnisExcubitor]

5 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

That's what is so oddly confusing about all this. They knew ahead of time what might happen and yet did nothing. I saw a twitter feed where a person in government went over the letter and asked "why nothing was done?" and the response was that it was considered non-threatening. I don't understand how a country that has had the kind of terrorism inflicted on it can take anything so lightly.

Typical of the governments in our region. We changed (to an extent - at least to the threats to the cities)after 26/11. Hopefully, Sri Lanka does too after this. But as always there will be no accountability. Some junior level officer will be punished/transferred and the incompetence of the politicians and people in high positions will be sweeped under the carpet. 

[nudge]

A bomb was found and defused near the main terminal of the Colombo airport. Police also recovered 87 low explosive detonators abandoned at the Bastian Mawatha private bus stand in Pettah. 24 suspects currently in custody, all thought to belong to NTJ but according to the cabinet secretary, it is not believed these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country, says there was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded. 

 

[nudge]

2 hours ago, IgnisExcubitor said:

Fair enough. I am not going to deny that compared to first world countries, ours is a violent culture - and that includes all religions and ethnicities (may it be Hindus in North and central parts, Muslims in east and central parts or Kashmir or Christians in North East). I just hate this narrative thing the media is obsessed with, where it selectively highlights  crimes. Something that will instantly stop once the right wing government loses power. 

 

Apparently knew several days in advance and in typical desi fashion did nothing about it. Politicians and government officials in our regions are the worst. 

EDIT

Fuck politicians. 

 

1 hour ago, Mel81x said:

That's what is so oddly confusing about all this. They knew ahead of time what might happen and yet did nothing. I saw a twitter feed where a person in government went over the letter and asked "why nothing was done?" and the response was that it was considered non-threatening. I don't understand how a country that has had the kind of terrorism inflicted on it can take anything so lightly.

It's very frustrating but it's not the first time it happened and it's also not exclusive to government officials and politicians in your region either...

Similar warnings have been ignored by the German officials in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre already.
Belgian authorities ignored warnings before the Brussels bombings in 2016.
The US allegedly ignored six warnings about imminent terrorist attack just before 9/11.
UK security services apparently ignored warnings right before Lockerbie. 
French police reportedly ignored numerous warnings about one of the perpetrators who helped carry out the massacre at the Bataclan. 
In case of most attacks carried out in Western countries between 2013 and 2015, some or all of the perpetrators were already well known to the authorities both in Europe and their home countries long before they executed their attacks; many had international arrest warrants and were on terrorism watch-lists. Europe is particularly poor in dealing with well-known extremists and radicalised elements in general. 

[Mel81x+]

4 minutes ago, nudge said:

 

It's very frustrating but it's not the first time it happened and it's also not exclusive to government officials and politicians in your region either...

Similar warnings have been ignored by the German officials in the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre already.
Belgian authorities ignored warnings before the Brussels bombings in 2016.
The US allegedly ignored six warnings about imminent terrorist attack just before 9/11.
UK security services apparently ignored warnings right before Lockerbie. 
French police reportedly ignored numerous warnings about one of the perpetrators who helped carry out the massacre at the Bataclan. 
In case of most attacks carried out in Western countries between 2013 and 2015, some or all of the perpetrators were already well known to the authorities both in Europe and their home countries long before they executed their attacks; many had international arrest warrants and were on terrorism watch-lists. Europe is particularly poor in dealing with well-known extremists and radicalised elements in general. 

I dont disagree there at all. I think the incompetence is clear based on historical evidence that intelligence reports are generally left to be acted on by some very non-intelligent people.

[nudge]

Another explosion in a van about to be checked near St. Anthony Church in Colombo. The van exploded when the bomb defusing unit and air force tried to diffuse the bomb.

[nudge]

Western Province Governor Azath Salley is currently being questioned by the Terrorist Investigations Department over his alleged links with suspects involved in the Sunday attacks.  

[Azeem]

5 minutes ago, nudge said:

Western Province Governor Azath Salley is currently being questioned by the Terrorist Investigations Department over his alleged links with suspects involved in the Sunday attacks.  

He was arrested in 2013 as well 

[Azeem]

I smell containment of China policy 

[Azeem]

There are far bigger powers at play here , so many conflicting signals 

[Dr. Gonzo]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48016994

Looks like it's National Thowheed Jamath, a group of Jihadis made up of returned ISIS fighters from Syria & it's suspected they had international help, which would make sense since they were just in a global terror network so they've probably met a bunch of other shitheads from around the world.

[Stan]

11 hours ago, nudge said:

Another explosion in a van about to be checked near St. Anthony Church in Colombo. The van exploded when the bomb defusing unit and air force tried to diffuse the bomb.

From the video I've seen, it looked like a controlled explosion. 

2 officers in camo gear inspecting it, walking away then being behind some kind of cordon as the explosion happened. Looked to be bigger than they expected though as the camera panned to nearby locals - I just hope the locals were informed as that's the last thing they want i.e. Not knowing it was controlled and thinking it was real. They'd be shocked enough as it is. 

[Azeem]

7 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48016994

Looks like it's National Thowheed Jamath, a group of Jihadis made up of returned ISIS fighters from Syria & it's suspected they had international help, which would make sense since they were just in a global terror network so they've probably met a bunch of other shitheads from around the world.

how striking that there still hasn't been a single claim of responsibility even by ISIS but ISIS claimed responsibility of an attack on a police station in Saudi Arabian the same day.

[nudge]

12 hours ago, Stan said:

From the video I've seen, it looked like a controlled explosion. 

2 officers in camo gear inspecting it, walking away then being behind some kind of cordon as the explosion happened. Looked to be bigger than they expected though as the camera panned to nearby locals - I just hope the locals were informed as that's the last thing they want i.e. Not knowing it was controlled and thinking it was real. They'd be shocked enough as it is. 

Could be; it definitely exploded when the bomb squad was there so the whole area was hopefully cordoned off already. No victims either way.

Today's updates: All police stations in Colombo on high alert about a lorry and van suspected to be carrying explosives. 

State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardene told the Parliament that initial investigation revealed local Islamist extremist National Thowfeeth Jamath group carried out the attack in response to NZ Christchurch attack, the group also had close links with another organization called JMI. The purported leader of the Islamic extremist group blamed for the attack allegedly began posting videos online three years ago calling for non-Muslims to be eliminated and Sri Lanka's Muslim council has expressed their concerns about the militant group to the authorities numerous times.

[Dr. Gonzo]

9 hours ago, Azeem said:

how striking that there still hasn't been a single claim of responsibility even by ISIS but ISIS claimed responsibility of an attack on a police station in Saudi Arabian the same day.

They claimed responsibility today

[Azeem]

4 hours ago, nudge said:

Could be; it definitely exploded when the bomb squad was there so the whole area was hopefully cordoned off already. No victims either way.

Today's updates: All police stations in Colombo on high alert about a lorry and van suspected to be carrying explosives. 

State Minister for Defence Ruwan Wijewardene told the Parliament that initial investigation revealed local Islamist extremist National Thowfeeth Jamath group carried out the attack in response to NZ Christchurch attack, the group also had close links with another organization called JMI. The purported leader of the Islamic extremist group blamed for the attack allegedly began posting videos online three years ago calling for non-Muslims to be eliminated and Sri Lanka's Muslim council has expressed their concerns about the militant group to the authorities numerous times.

This could not have been done without months of planning and logistics if you look at it critically 

[nudge]

1 hour ago, Azeem said:

This could not have been done without months of planning and logistics if you look at it critically 

I agree; especially since it appears to be well planned and well coordinated. Also as for IS claiming responsibility, well as someone once said, they'd gladly claim responsibility for your toast falling butter side down if they could and if that would bring them publicity so I'm not taking that at face value either. So in a way Sri Lanka bombings as retaliation for Christchurch shootings does indeed sound as empty and not very believable rhetoric. That said, it's reported that Sri Lanka's police found hundreds of kilos of active explosives and ingredients to make explosives in January when they raided some plantation linked to a militant NTJ ofshoot group so apparently some sort of attack was being planned back then already anyway. An alternative theory would be some militant nationalist Sinhalese group plotting and carrying this out and then pinning it on the Muslim extremists in order to strengthen their positions and recruiting but it also seems a bit far fetched considering that it wouldn't have been possible without at least some sort of government support as well as foreign (US and Indian?) intelligence agencies playing along in order to cover it all up - for me it doesn't make much sense given that half of the targets were tourist hotels and I don't know why the government would risk it given that tourism industry accounts for a huge part of Sri Lankan economy and fills their own pockets... 

[Azeem]

37 minutes ago, nudge said:

I agree; especially since it appears to be well planned and well coordinated. Also as for IS claiming responsibility, well as someone once said, they'd gladly claim responsibility for your toast falling butter side down if they could and if that would bring them publicity so I'm not taking that at face value either. So in a way Sri Lanka bombings as retaliation for Christchurch shootings does indeed sound as empty and not very believable rhetoric. That said, it's reported that Sri Lanka's police found hundreds of kilos of active explosives and ingredients to make explosives in January when they raided some plantation linked to a militant NTJ ofshoot group so apparently some sort of attack was being planned back then already anyway. An alternative theory would be some militant nationalist Sinhalese group plotting and carrying this out and then pinning it on the Muslim extremists in order to strengthen their positions and recruiting but it also seems a bit far fetched considering that it wouldn't have been possible without at least some sort of government support as well as foreign (US and Indian?) intelligence agencies playing along in order to cover it all up - for me it doesn't make much sense given that half of the targets were tourist hotels and I don't know why the government would risk it given that tourism industry accounts for a huge part of Sri Lankan economy and fills their own pockets... 

This is what i was thinking Muslim and Christians make almost the same % of population, both not very influential in Sri Lankan politics/establishment or whatnot so there is no point in clash of these two minorities.

[Stan]

Always sad to hear of things like this but then you have to remember what an act of good humanity this is:

 

(if true, I've not verified it but it'd be cruel for someone to make something like this up)

[nudge]

A bomb found and diffused in a restaurant. 

9 suicide bombers were involved, 8 have been identified. All from Sri Lanka. All well-educated, middle and upper middle class youth. One of them had an undergraduate degree from the UK, and a PG degree from Australia. 60 persons have been arrested so far.

[6666]

Fucking hell, how much death were these psychos planning on causing?

[IgnisExcubitor]

Pregnant wife of the millionaire bomber blew herself up when her house was raided, also killing three other kids.

https://www.firstpost.com/world/sri-lanka-blasts-fatima-ibrahim-identified-as-one-of-the-suicide-bombers-wife-of-sl-millionaire-blew-self-up-with-unborn-child-6508131.html/amp

 

You can't win against people like these.