<p>Sri Lanka's Roman Catholic Church said Sunday it had forgiven the suicide bombers behind the attacks that killed at least 279 people last Easter.</p>.<p>Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith told an Easter mass -- broadcast from a TV studio because of the coronavirus pandemic -- that "we offered love to the enemies who tried to destroy us".</p>.<p>"We forgave them," he said, adding that instead of retaliating, the nation's Catholic minority had contemplated Jesus' message of hope, and reduced tensions.</p>.<p>The April 21 Easter Sunday bombers targeted three churches and three luxury hotels, killing at least 279 people and wounding 593.</p>.<p>Last year Ranjith called for the government at-the-time to step down over its alleged failure to investigate an "international conspiracy" behind the attacks.</p>.<p>That government, of president Maithripala Sirisena, lost November's elections, with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger brother Gotabaya taking the reins.</p>.<p>Sirisena initially blamed Islamic extremists for the bombings, but later accused international drug dealers of being behind the attacks -- supposedly to destabilise his anti-narcotics drive.</p>.<p>The country's then-police chief and secretary to the ministry of defence have been charged with murder for allegedly not acting on intelligence about the attacks.</p>.<p>Police have arrested 135 people in connection with the bombings, blamed on the National Thowheeth Jama'ath extremist group.</p>.<p>They have yet to be charged.</p>.<p>This year's Easter celebrations have been muted amid a nationwide indefinite curfew imposed to contain the novel coronavirus.</p>.<p>Some 199 people have been infected, with seven deaths, the government said.</p>.<p>Closed-door Easter services were conducted at two of the churches targetted -- St Anthony's and St Sebastian's.</p>
<p>Sri Lanka's Roman Catholic Church said Sunday it had forgiven the suicide bombers behind the attacks that killed at least 279 people last Easter.</p>.<p>Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith told an Easter mass -- broadcast from a TV studio because of the coronavirus pandemic -- that "we offered love to the enemies who tried to destroy us".</p>.<p>"We forgave them," he said, adding that instead of retaliating, the nation's Catholic minority had contemplated Jesus' message of hope, and reduced tensions.</p>.<p>The April 21 Easter Sunday bombers targeted three churches and three luxury hotels, killing at least 279 people and wounding 593.</p>.<p>Last year Ranjith called for the government at-the-time to step down over its alleged failure to investigate an "international conspiracy" behind the attacks.</p>.<p>That government, of president Maithripala Sirisena, lost November's elections, with former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger brother Gotabaya taking the reins.</p>.<p>Sirisena initially blamed Islamic extremists for the bombings, but later accused international drug dealers of being behind the attacks -- supposedly to destabilise his anti-narcotics drive.</p>.<p>The country's then-police chief and secretary to the ministry of defence have been charged with murder for allegedly not acting on intelligence about the attacks.</p>.<p>Police have arrested 135 people in connection with the bombings, blamed on the National Thowheeth Jama'ath extremist group.</p>.<p>They have yet to be charged.</p>.<p>This year's Easter celebrations have been muted amid a nationwide indefinite curfew imposed to contain the novel coronavirus.</p>.<p>Some 199 people have been infected, with seven deaths, the government said.</p>.<p>Closed-door Easter services were conducted at two of the churches targetted -- St Anthony's and St Sebastian's.</p>