Deep wounds in Sri Lanka five years since Easter bombings

Sri Lanka marks five years since deadly Easter bombings, families still waiting for justice amid delays and investigations.

Sri Lanka marks on April 21 five years since Islamist bombers slaughtered 279 people in the island's deadliest suicide attack, but grieving families say they are still waiting for justice.

Government employee Saman Sirimanna, 59, and his wife Sriyani, 57, lost their two children when a suicide bomber stormed into St. Anthony's church in the capital Colombo on Easter Day 2019.

It was part of a wave of attacks that included three luxury hotels and two other churches in the majority Buddhist nation.

Mr. Sirimanna said his 19-year-old son and 22-year-old daughter had gone to "seek blessings" for good exam results.

"My loss is irreplaceable", Mr. Sirimanna told AFP, with tears in his eyes. "My children will never return."

Among the dead were 45 foreigners, including tourists visiting the island a decade after the end of a brutal civil war.

Mr. Sirimanna is bitter over delays in court proceedings and a dragging investigation into the bombings.