United Nations refugee agency chief Filippo Grandi on Wednesday voiced solidarity with Sri Lanka, where officials said 359 people were killed and over 500 were wounded in bomb attacks on churches and hotels at the weekend.
“I received the news on Sunday of the attacks in Sri Lanka with deep shock and sorrow. Today’s reports of a further rise in the number of deaths show that the horror is still unfolding," Grandi said in a statement.
Most of those who died in the suicide blasts at three churches and three hotels were Sri Lankan nationals, including scores of Christians attending Easter Sunday church services.
Some 38 foreign nationals were killed in the attack, which Sri Lanka's government has blamed on local Islamist group National Thowheed Jamath. The Islamic State jihadist group also claimed the assault.
Grandi praised Sri Lanka for sheltering refugees while still healing from its 25-year-long, bitter civil war which only ended in 2009.
"All of us at Unhcr stand by the government and people of Sri Lanka, a country that has offered protection to refugees of diverse religions and nationalities, at the same time as it continues to recover from its own experience of division and conflict," Grandi's statement continued.
"Violent extremism must not divide us,” the statement concluded.
