Jewish family of teen terror victims demands Sri Lanka reveal the truth

“I desperately want to find out the truth about what really caused Amelie and Daniel to get blown up in those suicide bombings,” brother of Jewish terror victims says.

By Lauren Marcus, World Israel News

On the heels of political turmoil in Sri Lanka, which has seen the prime minister flee the country after his palace was overrun by rioters, one Jewish man in the U.K. is pleading with the government to finally complete an investigation into a massive terror attack in the country which killed his siblings some three years ago.

In April 2019, Islamic terrorists carried out a series of coordinated attacks on churches and hotels in the city of Colombo; 269 people were killed, including 45 foreign nationals. ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack.

David Linsey, the brother of two Jewish teens who were killed in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka, sees the departure of Gotabaya Rajapaksa as an opportunity for the families of victims to finally receive justice and a proper explanation into the events that led up to the attacks.

“I desperately want to find out the truth about what really caused Amelie and Daniel to get blown up in those suicide bombings,” Linsey told the Jewish Chronicle. “Action needs to be taken.”

He added that “knowing who was really behind it all would help everyone — my family included — to recover some sense of equilibrium.”

In a previous conversation with TheJC, Linsey said that he was “not sure I will ever fully recover” from the loss of his brother and sister.

Linsey has met with and praised Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo. Ranjith has been vocal about what he says is a lack of action on the part of the Sri Lankan government to conduct a thorough investigation into the day’s events and possible failures on the part of officials to intervene.

According to Ranjith, “despite four warnings and specific information given to the Sri Lanka government by the embassy of India, our churches were left to fend for themselves, and also the upmarket hotels, so that the attacks went ahead.

“Those who hold power never allowed real independent investigations about what really happened,” he told the TheJC.

“The Rajapaksa government has always hidden the facts and tried to put the blame on other people. We want international action so that any government that comes to power is obliged to do a thorough investigation into what happened. It is necessary that justice is done for these people.”

Linsey told TheJC that he is “pleased to accept the Cardinal of Colombo’s efforts to discover what really happened.”

British JewsIslamic terrorSri LankaUK Jewish Community