In Pictures

Sri Lanka bombings: funerals and burials begin

Sri Lanka held a day of national mourning on Tuesday with three minutes of silence for the more than 320 people killed.

A man mourns at a grave of a victim, two days after a string of suicide bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels. [Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]

23 Apr 2019

Relatives and friends gathered in churches and cemeteries to remember some of the more than 320 people killed in bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

The first mass burials for the victims took place in Colombo and in Negombo, north of the capital, on Tuesday.

Mourners and relatives prayed with the clergy as coffins were carried in and out of the churches.

At St Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo – where scores died as they gathered for Easter Sunday prayers – a few dozen people held candles and prayed silently, palms pressed together.

And at St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, an elderly man wept uncontrollably by the coffin bearing the body of his wife.

Flags were lowered to half-mast on government buildings, and people bowed their heads and reflected silently on the violence that has caused international outrage.

The island nation’s state defence minister said initial investigations showed that the attacks were carried out by two little-known Muslim organisations.

The death toll from Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday bombings has reached 321 with many people still in hospital.

At least 500 people were wounded in the blasts, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said in a statement, adding that 40 people were now under arrest in connection with the attacks.

Tuesday was a national day of mourning in Sri Lanka.

The first memorial services for the more than 320 victims were held on Tuesday. [Thomas Peter/Reuters]

A Sri Lankan woman prays during a three-minute nationwide silence observed on Tuesday to pay homage to the victims of the Easter Sunday blasts. [Eranga Jayawardena/AP]

Catholic nuns attend a funeral service at St Sebastian Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka. The city is known as Little Rome for its many churches and Catholic majority. [Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP]

A woman collapses next to two coffins during a mass burial of victims, two days after a string of bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday killed more than 320 people. [Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]

The attacks are the worst ever against Sri Lanka's small Christian minority. The country's deputy defence minister said the initial investigation shows the bombings were in 'retaliation' for shootings at two New Zealand mosques last month. [Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP]

Tuesday was a day of mourning across Sri Lanka as the first funerals began. [Chamila Karunarathne/Anadolu]

Nearly all victims were Sri Lankan. Dozens of foreigners were also killed. At least 45 children were among the more than 320 dead according to the UN children's agency, UNICEF. [Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP]

A state of emergency has taken effect giving the Sri Lankan military war-time powers not used since the civil war ended in 2009. Soon after the blasts, officials cut off access to social media. [Eranga Jayawardena/EPA]

Entire families, many who had been praying together at church, were killed. [Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters]

A Sri Lankan woman cries next to the coffin of a relative who died in an explosion at St Anthony's Shrine on Easter Sunday. [Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP]

Mass funerals and mass burials were carried out on Tuesday as Sri Lanka continued to mourn. [M A Pushpa Kumara/EPA]