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Six bomb attacks across three cities in Sri Lanka on Easter
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Sunday.
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Most of them occurred within a single half-hour.
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The targets were churches and popular hotel restaurants.
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Nearly 300 people were killed.
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Afterwards, three bombs detonate
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as police look for suspects.
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Sri Lankan officials have blamed
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a little known radical Islamist group
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for the violence.
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Here's how the Easter Sunday attacks unfolded.
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What they show is a level of sophistication
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and coordination that resulted in one of the deadliest
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terror attacks in modern history.
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The story actually begins 10 days earlier, on April 11.
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This document shows that Sri Lankan security forces were
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warned about the threats.
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Nothing is done to protect the churches.
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These are the three cities where the attacks
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take place on Easter Sunday.
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In Negombo, around 8:45 a.m., security cameras
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pick up this man walking into the St. Sebastian Church.
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He's a suicide bomber.
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This attack is the deadliest of the day.
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Over 100 people are killed.
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Around the same time, three separate other attacks
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hit the capital nearly simultaneously.
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One is here at a Catholic church
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called St. Anthony's Shrine.
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This dash cam footage gives a clue about the intensity
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of the blast.
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It blows off part of the church's roof.
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At the Shangri-La Hotel's Table One Restaurant,
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an Easter brunch is being served.
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This photo is taken moments before two suicide bombers
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strike that location.
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The third target at this time is the Kingsbury Hotel.
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Experts say the bombs reveal a high level of sophistication.
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The amount of damage suggests the attackers
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had expert bomb-making skills and access to military-grade
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high explosives.
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Each attack targeted confined spaces
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maximizing the impact of the blasts.
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Within a few minutes of the first waves of bomb blasts,
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there are two more attacks —
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one at another Colombo hotel, and another at a church
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on the country's opposite coast.
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As authorities respond, police encounter three more
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explosives that detonate.
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Three officers are killed in one of these instances.
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So in the first 36 hours, six bomb attacks have occurred
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and so have three detonations of bombs found by police.
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[singing]
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All of this proof that a very deadly day
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could have been even deadlier.
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[singing]