Sri Lanka Remembers Easter Sunday Attacks

Sri Lankans hold church services and march in silence to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Easter Sunday suicide attacks in 2019, which left 279 people dead in the island's deadliest suicide attack.

The United Nations urged Sri Lanka to bridge its "accountability deficit" and ensure justice as the country commemorated the 279 victims of its worst-ever attack against civilians five years ago.

The UN's top envoy to the country, Marc-Andre Franche, told a remembrance service in Colombo that there should be a "thorough and transparent investigation" to uncover those behind the Easter carnage in 2019.

Islamist bombers hit three churches and three hotels in the island's deadliest suicide attack aimed at civilians, but grieving families say they are still waiting for justice.

Among the dead were 45 foreigners, including tourists visiting the island a decade after the end of a brutal ethnic conflict that had claimed more than 100,000 lives since 1972.

The leader of Sri Lanka's Catholic church, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, accused President Ranil Wickremesinghe's government of suppressing new evidence and protecting those behind the jihadists.

Rajapaksa was forced out of office in July 2022 following months of protests over an unprecedented economic crisis that caused shortages of food, fuel and medicines.

Thousands of Sri Lanka's Catholic minority staged a silent protest outside the capital after multi-faith services to bless the victims, who included more than 80 children.

Relatives carried photos of the dead and protested in the town of Negombo -- known as Sri Lanka's 'Little Rome' because of its heavy concentration of Catholics.

Military personnel armed with automatic assault rifles watched as the protesters marched to the nearby St Sebastian's church, where 114 people were killed in the coordinated suicide bombings.