COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Mob attacks on Muslim communities in Sri Lanka’s northwest have left one person dead and dozens of shops and mosques destroyed, a government minister said Tuesday, as communal violence worsened in the wake of Easter bombings that killed more than 250 people. With communal violence also reported in Sri Lanka’s west, the government imposed a nationwide curfew Monday and temporarily blocked social media and messaging apps. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were carried out by a local radicalized Muslim group. Sri Lanka has a dark history of communal tensions. “The country is trying to move forward from a traumatic period of inter-ethnic armed conflict, but these attacks are pushing Sri Lanka backwards.

Source: National Post May 14, 2019 19:35 UTC