The attacks on churches and hotels have led to assumptions as to the motivations of the bombers. But the country has a complex and fragile cultural and ethnic mix

The bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday were intended to strike a devastating blow to the country’s million-strong Christian community. Suicide bombers detonated one set of bombs at churches in the cities of Colombo and Negombo on the western coast, home to many Sinhalese-speaking Catholics. Another was detonated in a Protestant church 200 miles away – in Batticaloa, a city on the Tamil-majority eastern side of the island.

Catholicism in Sri Lanka has a long and complex history. With its beautiful Baroque-style churches and roadside shrines to the Virgin Mary, Negombo is known as “Little Rome”. But the status of the Church mirrors some of the dynamics of colonialism as well as present-day ethnic and religious tensions. The attacks were the deadliest co-ordinated acts of terrorism Sri Lanka has ever suffered, and the first on such a scale since the bloody 27-year-long civil war with the Tamil Tigers ended ten years ago. They are the first directed at Sri Lanka’s Christian minority.

So far, there are no complete answers to why more was not done to thwart the bombers. It has been suggested that infighting within the government contributed to a breakdown in security and communication in the days leading up to the attacks.