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Last Sunday, April 21st, the country of Sri Lanka was brutally bombed by believed members of the Islamic State. 359 people were killed in churches and hotels, and of them, 38 were foreigners, hailing from India, Great Britain, and the United States. Hundreds more have been injured. This has been the worst violence since the end of the country’s civil war in 2009, where 80,000 people were killed.

Background of Sri Lanka

More than the religious differences in the population, there is a much bigger divide across the country’s ethnic groups. The country’s civil war in 2009 was a result of conflicting ethnic groups. About 75% of the population identify as Sinhalese, 11% are Sri Lankan Tamils, and 4% are Indian Tamils. Both Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils speak the language of Tamil, which is spoken in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu; this is why many Tamil people in India have migrated or traveled to Sri Lanka.

There has been tension between Tamil and Sinhalese people as the Tamil population has often been neglected by their government and they felt as if their culture was being threatened. This culminated in the creation of a group known as the Tamil Tigers, a militant group that began to fight, often violently, for an independent homeland for the Tamil minority. For 26 years, Sri Lanka has entrenched a bitter civil war between the two ethnic groups. It has only been in the last decade that Sri Lanka has been able to allow history to remain in the past and move on.

The Attack

On the morning of April 29, six simultaneous explosions went off in hotels and churches that were hosting an Easter mass. Throughout the day, as the police and army began to assemble near cities, more explosions were detonated; the next day a bomb was discovered near the airport in Colombo and it was defused. A police curfew was imposed as the nation was in shock and the police tried to find potential bombs.

Seven members of the same family being buried together

Many of the victims were Sri Lankans, leaving grieving families behind. A Sri Lankan celebrity chef, named Shantha Mayadunne, and her daughter were among those killed in the attacks. Many of the others involved are residents from Great Britain, the United States, India, China, and Denmark. Danish billionaire, Anders Holch Povlsen, had three children that died in the attacks. In the aftermath of the attack, it is important to remember there are also thousands of everyday people who have lost their loved ones to this senseless attack.

Attackers and the Government Response

On Monday, the Sri Lankan government believed that this terrorist attack was due to the work of a militant Islamic group known as National Thowheed Jamath. However, the following day, the Islamic State took credit for this attack. Many security experts say that while the Islamic State has taken credit for attacks that they are not involved in, their claim is being taken seriously because of the massive scale to the attacks.

The government responded with admitting to a “major intelligence lapse” when it was seen that Indian intelligence had given the government a warning in the beginning of the month. However, since the attacks, 60 arrests have been made, including Mohamed Ibrahim, a wealthy spice trader; two of Ibrahim’s sons were attackers.

What Happens Next for Sri Lanka?

Unfortunately, these terrorist attacks have jeopardized Sri Lanka’s future. Sri Lanka has struggled with its people being divided for most of its history. Since the attacks, thousands of people have been inciting violence, targeting Muslim Sri Lankans.

This is the first instance of Christian-Muslim violence in Sri Lanka, but it seems to have started a bitter divide. On Wednesday, a Christian mob went through Muslim neighborhoods, trying to find vulnerable Muslim Sri Lankans that they could threaten or beat. This forced Muslim Sri Lankans to rely on police protection, and when that failed, they resulted in the protection of the mosque.

Muslims in Sri Lanka being relocated from their communities

It is sometimes easier to place blame and act out in aggression; it is much harder to come together in a time of grief. For the people of Sri Lanka, they had dealt with a civil war that ravaged their nation for decades, and they were finally able to resolve it. For the Sri Lankan people, these terrorist attacks not only took away the people they loved, but it took away their peace. Christian Sri Lankans are specifically acting out in rage to even the score with their Muslim counterparts, believing that more violence will help the situation. It is in times like these where we must remember the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”