Sri Lanka PM confirms attacks on Muslims

An elderly Sri Lankan woman cries sitting next to the grave of her family member who died in Easter Sunday church explosion in Katuwapitiya village in Negombo, Sri Lanka on April 24, 2019. AP

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka —  Sri Lanka’s prime minister has acknowledged to The Associated Press that minority Ahmadi Muslims who are refugees from Pakistan have faced attacks since the Easter bombings.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Thursday that security forces were trying to help the Ahmadis.
Wickremesinghe said that some people “had become suspicious of foreigners, not of Muslims per se. . In the heat of the moment, a few have been attacked.”

Sunday’s Islamic State-claimed suicide bombings killed over 350 people.

On Thursday, Ahmadis described to the AP how they have faced violence in the time since.

About 500 have fled their homes in Negombo and are living some 30 kilometers away under police protection. Others live under police and military protection at the Ahmadi mosque in Negombo. /ee