Making Sense of Sri Lanka’s Easter Massacre

FEATURING RAHUL MAHAJAN – Nearly 300 people were killed in a series of coordinated suicide attacks on the South Asian island nation of Sri Lanka. The attacks, which also injured at least 500 people, were aimed at Catholic churches and several hotels catering to tourists. Authorities have so far pointed to a little known organization called National Thowheed Jamath as being responsible. However there is speculation that there may have been international coordination for a set of attacks of this scale.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made these remarks about the attacks on Monday.

The Easter massacre ended a decade of peace in Sri Lanka, whose civil war ended in 2009. Sri Lanka is a majority Buddhist nation with significant minorities of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians.

Rahul Mahajan is the the US Foreign Policy and Empire Correspondent for Rising Up With Sonali. He’s the author of two books on the Iraq war: Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond and The New Crusade: America’s War on Terrorism. He also teaches at University of Wisconsin, River Falls.