The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. April 23, 2019 Sri Lankan Minister Says Easter Bombings Were Retaliation for NZ Mosque Attacks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sri Lanka's defense minister says Sunday's coordinated bombings at churches and hotels across the island nation were a response to last month's attacks on mosques by a white nationalist gunman who killed 50 Muslim worshipers in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. Sri Lankan officials say a little-known Muslim organization called National Thowheed Jama'ath carried out the Easter Sunday bombings with another Sri Lankan group known as the JMI. Separately, the self-proclaimed Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bombings, though it offered no evidence. The death toll from the bombings rose today to 321, with more than 500 injured, as Sri Lanka marks a national day of mourning. .