Loading He decided to go to the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, where he thought it would be safe. But just after he was dropped at the luxury hotel and about to enter the building, he heard another bomb go off. Now he was being evacuated. Soot and ash fell on his white sweatshirt. His car had left, so he hailed a motorised rickshaw and went to meet friends at a coffee shop. They contacted other friends, trying to make sure everyone they knew was safe. It was too soon to think about what it might mean.

Over the course of Sunday, a series of eight bombs exploded, including at three churches and three luxury hotels, killing more than 290 people. N.A. Sumanapala, a shopkeeper near St. Anthony's Shrine, ran inside to help and found a "river of blood," he said. "Ash was falling like snow." About 20 kilometres north, in the Catholic-majority town of Negombo, worshippers filled wooden pews in the golden-tinged sanctuary at St Sebastian Church. An explosion tore through the room there, too, blasted open the roof and shredded the seating. Shrapnel was embedded in the walls, and small statues of saints fell to the ground. Blood was everywhere. "A bomb (attack) to our church," someone posted to the church's Facebook page in the moments after the blast, attaching gruesome photos that show mangled bodies and bewildered witnesses. "(Please) come and help if your family members are there."

A guest on the 17th floor of the Shangri-La, Sarita Marlou, wrote in a Facebook post that people had gathered for brunch at its Table One Restaurant on the third floor when the entire building was shaken by a blast at 8:57am. All guests were ordered to evacuate. "While running down the stairs, saw a lot of blood on the floor but we were still clueless as to what really happened," she wrote. Among the Shangri-La victims was a popular chef and cooking show host, Shantha Mayadunne, who was killed along with her daughter having breakfast, according to local news reports. "Easter breakfast with family," her daughter, Nisanga, had posted as caption for a group-selfie around the table on her Facebook page not long before the explosion. The Easter Sunday violence was the deadliest the South Asian island country has seen since a bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

Many Sri Lankans remember well the terror of the 26-year war. But not Harischandra, who was just a teenager when it officially ended. Toward the end, the conflict was not in Colombo. Growing up, he was mostly aware of his parents' anxiety about safety, not of actual fighting. Now their anxiety is back. "For them, it's a bit of a different situation," he said. "They're afraid this might start racial violence." AP, The New York Times