Weeping Sri Lankan Catholics lit candles and prayed in a memorial service outside a bombed church on Tuesday, one month after Easter bombings by Islamist militants killed more than 250 people.<\/p>\n
The April 21 attacks, claimed by militant group Islamic State, targeted three churches and three luxury hotels, shocking the island and shattering a decade of relative peace after the end of a 25-year civil war.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of worshippers, including survivors and relatives of the victims, gathered outside St. Anthony\u2019s Shrine, a Catholic church in the capital, Colombo, for the ceremony.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not want to come here,\u201d said Gloria, one of those attending, as she wiped away tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we came to remember our daddy who left us,\u201d added the 17-year-old, who was accompanied by her mother and 14-year-old sister, Sophia.<\/p>\n
Gloria, who declined to give her surname, said she lost consciousness during the attack, and opened her eyes to see her sister crawling towards her and her father bleeding.<\/p>\n
The navy is repairing the white-painted church, which is covered in scaffolding, and police with sniffer dogs patrolled the area.<\/p>\n
Some Christian schools also re-opened on Tuesday amid tight security. The city\u2019s archbishop had complained about insufficient security around churches, and many parents have kept their children at home for fears of renewed attacks.<\/p>\n
Authorities say the threat of more Islamist militant attacks has been contained and that security services have dismantled most of the network linked to the Easter Sunday bombings.<\/p>\n
Courtesy: Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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