Sri Lanka, Easter bombing

This is horrific. I have friends from Sri Lanka who are Christian. One of them I've lost contact with and only remember her first name so I don't see how I'll ever know if she and her family are okay. (Bloody stupid of me, but the circumstances under which she left where we were living were outside anyone's control so didn't get a chance to exchange contact details.)

Horrific waste of life. Just... there aren't any words.

I thought the civil war with the Tamils was over. Apparently not.

It must be easier to buy bomb making materials overseas than here in America. We don't have those kind of bomb attacks here -- at least not since the OK city bombing. Mass shootings are a daily occurrence here but not deadly bombings.

Auteur said:

It must be easier to buy bomb making materials overseas than here in America. We don't have those kind of bomb attacks here -- at least not since the OK city bombing. Mass shootings are a daily occurrence here but not deadly bombings.

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I'd wager it's not. Ask the brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon. You can make an effective bomb with shit in your kitchen, which is not news.

This was a whole series of bombs that didn't, individually, have to be Oklahoma City sized (and yes, it's harder in the U.S. to get specific types of chemicals used by McVeigh) to do the kind of damage that's been done.

As to why they're not used more here -- luck.

Auteur said:

It must be easier to buy bomb making materials overseas than here in America. We don't have those kind of bomb attacks here -- at least not since the OK city bombing. Mass shootings are a daily occurrence here but not deadly bombings.

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It may be because guns are so readily available here. Suicidal crazies with an agenda and no regard for human life can shoot dozens of people instead of blowing them up. Maybe it simply fits in with the cultural worship of the "John Wayne" archetype in the US. Our macho "heroes" all use guns, not bombs. Guns put the murderers in the middle of the action and place them at the center of attention in a way bombs don't. American culture is individualistic and egotistical compared to many others.

It's also possible that bombers are motivated differently than mass shooters are here, and the differences in method also represent differences in agenda and psychology in the two countries. Shooters often have personal vendettas or are "lone wolves" who have been radicalized via the web (like the church shooters or the San Bernardino shooters), while bombers are often working on behalf of more organized terrorist groups that are, thus far, rare in the US? This series of attacks in Sri Lanka was clearly very organized and involved a group of murderers, not just one or two.

I'm just guessing, though. We did have the Boston Marathon bombers who seemed to fit the profile I just described for the shooters. As CF points out, it's not hard to make some kinds of bombs at home.

My heart aches for the victims.

MaeZe said:

I thought the civil war with the Tamils was over. Apparently not.

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I haven't seen the Tamil Tigers implicated in these bombings thus far. Have you?

vsrenard said:

I haven't seen the Tamil Tigers implicated in these bombings thus far. Have you?

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I haven't either, and I'm not clear why they would be targeting Christian churches (and not Buddhist temples) either, though I confess a great deal of ignorance about the group, aside from the generalities we tend to hear on the news here in the US.

cornflake said:

.....

As to why they're not used more here -- luck.

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And all those shiny guns are just laying about and so much more fun.

vsrenard said:

I haven't seen the Tamil Tigers implicated in these bombings thus far. Have you?

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No. I didn't realize there were so many groups there. "Religious extremists" is all that has been identified so far on the DW (German) News, with a list of three or four possible groups.

Rioting monks are one of the recent activist groups. That just sounds so bizarre.

Alessandra Kelley said:

Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewarden has said the terrorists have been identified and are religious extremists, but he did not identify which religion.

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Probably best not to, for the safety of adherents of whichever religion is named. When people are grieving and hurting, they don't always discriminate between 'extremists' and 'normal believers'.

frimble3 said:

Probably best not to, for the safety of adherents of whichever religion is named. When people are grieving and hurting, they don't always discriminate between 'extremists' and 'normal believers'.

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Agree. I think it's an eminently sensible response in a nation with complex religious/ethnic rifts like Sri Lanka (though I can't help wondering if the government would be so reserved, were the terrorists definitely Tamil Hindus).

Almost 300 dead. So senseless.

It just gets sadder. Sri Lankan security forces have raided a thought to be the residence of Zaharan Hashim (the likely mastermind of the Easter Sunday bombings), and four people detonated explosives. 15 are dead, including several children living in the compound. It's horrific that innocents are caught up in this, no matter what their parents are guilty of.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/27/world/asia/sri-lanka-bombings.html

I ache for all the innocents who will suffer backlash because they share the terrorists' religion.