Three Muslims have been killed in attacks in and near Aluthgama, Sri Lanka, and dozens more were seriously wounded.
In southwestern Sri Lanka, hard-line Buddhists threw gasoline bombs and looted homes and businesses in attacks in the past several days, officials reported Monday. The latest attacks were apparently led by the Bodu Bala Sena, or Buddhist Power Force, which strongly protests against Sri Lanka’s Muslim minority population. The group is believed to have the support of Sri Lanka’s government.
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Violence reportedly broke out in the towns of Aluthgama, Darga Nagar, and Beruwala after a Sunday afternoon rally by Bodu Bala Sena where the group's general secretary, the Rev. Galagoda Atte Gnanasara, told the crowd that Muslim-owned shops were in danger.
Gnanasara told reporters the Buddhists were angry over an alleged attack on the driver of a Buddhist monk.
"When people heard it they went out of control,"
Gnanasara said, according to The Associated Press. "This is natural because the people were under a lot of pressure."
AP journalists saw dozens of shops gutted, as well as motorbikes and bicycles piled up and set on fire in the rampage. Residents said mosques were also defaced.
Muslims’ houses were also broken into, ransacked, and destroyed.
"Soon the house caught fire and we ran out because we could not stay with the smoke," Sithee Hameeda, a resident of Darga Nagar, told the AP after a mob broke into her home and stole cash and jewelry. "We hid in the marsh and came back only after everything was over. Everything was destroyed. We were left only with the wet clothes we were wearing."
Sri Lanka Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem accused his own government of not protecting Muslims.
"The law-and-order mechanism has failed to protect innocent people," Hakeem said, according to the AP.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is visiting Bolivia, promised through a series of tweets that an investigation into the violence would be launched and offered support to the Muslim and Sinhala people in his country.
Violence between Buddhists and Muslims has not been common as of recently. However, according to the AP, Sri Lanka is still dealing with the deep scars of its 26-year civil war that ended in 2009 between the Buddhist Sinhalese majority and ethnic Tamil rebels, who are mostly Hindu.
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