VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Five weeks ago a shocking attack took place at a place of worship in the southern hemisphere, New Zealand. Last Sunday(April 21, 2019), once  again the world was shocked by  bombings at other  houses of worship and hotels in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka and several other cities. The incident killed 321 people including 38 foreigners. Theseattacks happened almost simultaneously with  several people detonated suicide bombings.

Authorities in Colombo accused the incident of being orchestrated by a local group claiming to be affiliated with a particular religion. But immediately a statement of responsibility emerged from a group affiliated to ISIS. The police arrested at least 40 people after the incident. Investigators are still exploring whether there is a link between local terrorist groups and global networks. The party claiming responsibility for the attack stated it  had something to do with what happened  in New Zealand.

Sri Lanka is a country that has experienced conflicts for more than 25 years. Civil war broke out between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil tiger rebels who controlled the northeastern region of Sri Lanka. The rebellion ended in 2009. Sri Lankans  then live relatively  without conflict though there were some  frictions between the Buddhist majority and Hindus and Muslims minority.

The Sunday's attack was said to be indicated by foreign intelligence networks. But unfortunately the information did not reach government policy holders because of the lack of harmony between President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

Hopefully  there will be no more incidents like this. The victims are civilians. It  is not war but slaughter. No belief  or religionteaches  such cruel deeds. Every country must be  more vigilant in maintaining security, because this incident can occur anywhere in the world.