Sri Lanka church bomber strokes victim's head as he leaves

Seeing St. Sebastian’s Church packed with people attending Easter Mass on the morning of April 21, Dilip Fernando and his wife decided to go to another church to attend Mass. As they were leaving, a bomb ripped through the church in the coastal town of Negombo, near the capital Colombo of Sri Lanka, killing dozens of people there.

It was just one of eight bombings that took place at churches and major hotels in the Sri Lankan capital and surrounding areas. The death toll now exceeds 290, with 500 injured. No organization has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.

“I often come here for mass,” said Fernando, 66, who returned to the church the next day and witnessed the brutality of the attack that nearly killed his family. “My wife and I arrived at 7:30 a.m. but the church was packed, there was no room left. I didn’t want to stand during the mass, so I left and went to another church.”

Seven members of Mr. Fernando’s family, including his in-laws and two grandchildren, decided to stay and stand outside the church of St. Sebastian. From where they stood, Mr. Fernando’s family observed a man believed to be the suicide bomber.

"At the end of the service, my children saw a young man enter the church with a heavy bag," Mr. Fernando said. "On the way out, he patted my granddaughter's head. That was the bomber."

Mr Fernando's family wondered why he entered the church when the service was about to end and described the suspect, who is in his 30s, as "looking very young and innocent". "He didn't seem excited or scared. He was very calm," a relative of Mr Fernando said.

After the bomb exploded, Mr. Fernando's seven family members ran away, then called Mr. Fernando and his wife, thinking they were inside. "I'm really lucky because I usually come to the ceremony here. We feel relieved but also very sad for our village," Mr. Fernando said, adding that funerals for the victims would be held soon.

However, Mr. Fernando believes that the Catholic community in Sri Lanka, which makes up only 6% of the population, will not be intimidated by this disaster. "If the church was open this morning, I would have gone. We are not afraid, we will not let the terrorists win, never."

Mr Fernando blamed the government for failing to prevent the attacks. "Revenge is useless," the 66-year-old said. "An attack like this could have been avoided." Sri Lanka's intelligence agency is believed to have been informed of the bombings 10 days in advance.

This is the deadliest bombing targeting civilians in the history of this South Asian island nation since the 26-year civil war ended in 2009. Starting on July 23, 1983, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist rebel group, fought for an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. The army defeated the group in May 2009. In nearly 26 years, this civil war has killed 80,000-100,000 people.