Tag: Terrorism

Sri Lanka’s cardinal condemns “shocking” massacre of Catholics – National Catholic Register

JAKARTA — Sri Lankan Christians on Monday were struggling to come to terms with deadly terrorist attacks that targeted Catholic churches during Easter Sunday Mass, with three hotels in the capital of Colombo also hit in apparent so-called suicide bombings. At the time of writing, the confirmed death toll stood at 290, with around 500 people injured, many seriously. Speaking by telephone to the Register on Monday, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo described the attacks as “a shocking incident.” “We never expected these kind of attacks on our communities worshipping in our Church,” he said. Cardinal Ranjith put the number of Catholics killed in the attacks at “between 150 to 180” and expressed his condolences to the families of the other victims, at the hotels and at the Zion Evangelical Protestant Church. “I hope that they [the Sri Lankan authorities] will discover who was behind this and bring them to book, according to the law,” the cardinal said.

London recognises Northern Irish loyalist ceasefire – ISN

DERRY — On Monday the British government officially recognized the ceasefire declared by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Northern Ireland’s largest “loyalist” (Protestant) paramilitary group. The recognition came despite the publication of an Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) report that said that the UDA continued to be involved in crime and internal feuding and exercised gangland-style control over loyalist urban areas in Northern Ireland. However the report noted a reduction in UDA activity since the last report was published six months ago. The IMC is a British-Irish taskforce appointed to assess the activity of Northern Ireland’s paramilitary groups. The move followed consultations between Britain’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Paul Murphy and the Ulster Political Research Group, a think-tank affiliated with the UDA.

Northern Ireland loyalist assassin given life sentence for 1989 murder of lawyer – ISN

DERRY — The saga around one of Northern Ireland’s most controversial political assassinations reached a conclusion of sorts on Thursday with the jailing of a former loyalist paramilitary. Ken Barrett, 41, admitted to being one a group of masked gunmen who in February 1989 shot prominent Catholic solicitor Pat Finucane 14 times as he ate a Sunday meal with his family. Finucane was a high-profile lawyer who represented republican clients – but also worked with Protestants. Barrett, then a member the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), was given a minimum 22 year sentence. However, he could be released within just a few months as part of the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland’s landmark 1998 peace deal. The peace deal included an amnesty for politically-motivated crimes committed during Northern Ireland’s 30-year civil conflict.