Sri Lankan Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo, has called on the nation to observe a two-minute silence and appealed for all places of worship to ring bells on Wednesday, April 21 to commemorate the victims of last year’s Easter Sunday bombings.

Keep a two-minute silence at 8.45 am and light a lamp or a candle at your home at 8.47 am and observe religious rites to commemorate the victims on April 21,” said Cardinal Ranjith last week.

However, all activities scheduled to mark the first anniversary of the Easter attacks will not be held publically because of the lockdown against the Covid-19 pandemic.

“People can join these programmes broadcast on television without any participation by the public,” the cardinal said.

Nine suicide bombers belonging to local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing 258 people, including 11 Indians.

Cardinal Ranjith said that two main memorial services would be held at the St Anthony's Church in Colombo and the St Sebastian's Church in Negombo – the two of the three churches devastated by the suicide attacks two years ago. Cardinal Ranjith, who will be presiding the memorial service at the St Anthony's Church, said that it was at 8.45 am on April 21, 2019 when the first suicide bomber targeted a church.

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