at least 45 foreign nationals, three police officers, and eight bombers, and at least 500 were injured. The church bombings were carried out during Easter services in Negombo, Batticaloa and Colombo; the hotels that were bombed were the Shangri-La, Cinnamon Grand, Kingsbury and Tropical Inn. According to the State Intelligence Service, a second wave of attacks was planned, but was stopped as a result of government raids. The attack deeply shook the Christian and Catholic community of Sri Lanka, and Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith spent the next years asking for clarity and answers regarding responsibility for the bombings, and justice for the victims. Ranjith has been very critical of the investigations, alleging possible collusion of the Government with the attackers, citing a Parliamentary Select Committee report to this effect. The cardinal denies that the Church suffers persecution in Sri Lanka, saying there is a problem with human rights. "The Church is not under threat in Sri Lanka, but human rights are. In Sri Lanka, we are witnessing a struggle between the Sri Lankan population against the Government. The Government has mismanaged the economy and now we have many families without food. There is extreme poverty, and we want also to speak about this phenomenon so that the international community can help us, and not support this type of dictatorial government that does not respect human rights". Important churches Cathedral National Shrines See also Christianity in Sri Lanka Catholic Bishops' Conference of Sri Lanka List of Saints from Asia Mannar Catholic martyrs (1544) Notes References history of Catholicism in Sri Lanka External links The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka by GCatholic.org Profile of the Catholic church in Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Sri Lanka