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South Asia · 22 September 2026 to 22 September 2026 · 6 headlines · BBC News, South China Morning Post, Al Jazeera

Sri Lanka Easter bombings trial verdict

A Colombo court is due to deliver its verdict for defendants charged over the April 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings, which killed more than 260 people and wounded hundreds more across churches and hotels in Sri Lanka. The attackers were linked to local Islamist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath, reportedly with ties to the Islamic State group; the trial covers those accused of aiding the bombers rather than the bombers themselves, who died in the attacks. Families of victims have long criticised the years-long pace of the legal proceedings and have separately pressed for accountability over the security and intelligence failures that let the attacks happen despite prior warnings from foreign intelligence services.

As it ran

22 September 2026