RELIGION

Sri Lankan woman loses most of her family in Easter bombings

Associated Press
Published | Updated

Anusha Kumari, second from left, weeps during a mass burial for her husband, two children and three siblings, all victims of Easter Sunday's bomb attacks, in Negombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. In an instant on Easter Sunday, Kumari, 43, was left childless and a widow when suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on churches and luxury hotels in and just outside Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Anusha Kumari holds portraits of her daughter Sajini Venura Dulakshi and son Vimukthi Tharidu Appuhami, both victims of Easter Sunday's bomb blast in Negombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Kumari, 43, was left childless and a widow when suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on churches and luxury hotels in and just outside Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

On Sunday, 43-year-old Anusha Kumari was left childless and a widow when suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka.

More than 350 people were killed in the near-simultaneous bombings. About a third of the victims were celebrating Easter Mass at St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo.

Kumari lost her daughter, son, husband, sister-in-law and two nieces.

They were buried three days later on some vacant land near the stricken church that has quickly become a cemetery for some of the bombing victims.

Sri Lanka's president has asked for the resignations of the defense secretary and national police chief after acknowledging that some intelligence units were aware of threats to churches before the Easter bombings.