Velusami Raju, father of the Zion Church suicide blast victim Ramesh Raju, looks on next to a banner displaying Raju Ramesh's portrait at his house, in Kattankudy. Ramesh Raju has become a hero to the shell-shocked congregation of the Zion evangelical church in Batticaloa after he gave his life stopping a suicide bomber killing hundreds of people.
His name was Ramesh Raju. Before the terrorist attacks that plagued Sri Lanka at Easter, he volunteered to control the crowd. At the cost of his life, he prevented a suicide bomber from entering a church.
A week after the attacks that hit several churches and hotels in Sri Lanka and left 253 dead and hundreds injured, members of the congregation of the Evangelical Church of Zion, in Batticaloa (in the east of the country), again in shock, pay homage to their hero, Ramesh Raju. By holding a suicide bomber loaded with bags at the entrance to the church, he saved more than 600 worshipers, paying him the cost of his life.
A week after the attacks, dozens of people still line up to offer their condolences to his widow and the road to his house is flanked by posters and photos of the 40-year-old man, father of two.
600 people saved thanks to him
On this Easter morning, the church was packed and people kept arriving. Ramesh Raju had volunteered to help control the crowd. Seeing a man arriving he did not know, loaded with two bags, he went to tell him to leave them outside.
After a short argument, the bomb exploded, killing Ramesh Raju and 28 others, including 14 children, who were outside. But the 600 people already inside the church were saved.
The majority of the 253 people killed in the Easter attacks are worshipers from the other two churches targeted by the suicide bombers.
The town of Batticaloa, on the island’s east coast, was the only target outside the Colombo region, the capital, presumably because the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) movement, which the government considers responsible. of the attacks, is from this region.
“He could have run away, he chose to oppose”
“When Ramesh had suspicion, he could have run away, but he chose to oppose this man to prevent him from entering the church, ” his father, Velusami Raju, told AFP. I am very proud that he saved so many lives, and especially so many children. “
In the church were in fact dozens of children who had just left catechism.
“He was a good man , “ adds his father, who describes him as “the pillar” of their large family. “He was the main breadwinner for our family, his three younger sisters and his younger brother, ” explains the 63-year-old man.
His son had spoken to him by phone a few minutes before the explosion, and told him that he would call him back after the service. But when the phone rang again, it was a parishioner announcing to Velusami that his son had died in the explosion.
His sister and family also killed
Raju’s sister was also killed, along with her husband and 20-month-old son.
“I lost my grandson, but at the same time I am so proud that my son saved so many children, so that other families do not have to go through what we are going through”, adds this worker. retired, with tears in his eyes.
Raju was also a successful example for his community, in this predominantly Muslim city, having started his own business at the age of 28 and living successfully since then, married to his high school sweetheart who became a teacher.
“Now that he’s no longer here, I don’t know how we’re going to get out of it, but I pray and ask God to help us,” his father concludes.
An assault this Saturday morning against a cache of jihadists
This Saturday morning, at least 15 people, including six children, were killed in an assault on a cache of the jihadist organization led by the security forces of Sri Lanka. Police later said four men suspected of being ISIS were killed during the operation.
It was undertaken on the basis of information indicating that those responsible for the Easter attacks had taken refuge in the coastal town of Kalmunai.
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