Billionaire ASOS owner Anders Holch Povlsen and his wife Anne Storm Pedersen (left) has said that three of his four children were killed in the Sri Lanka terror attacks on Easter Sunday.
Just days before the devastating attacks, one of Povlsen's children, Alma, shared a snap of her three siblings Astrid, Agnes and Alfred, next to a pool (centre). It is not yet known which of Povlsen's three children have died. Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry said the bodies of at least 32 foreigners were recovered, including eight Brits. Alex Nicholson, 11, his mother, Anita (pictured together right), 42, were killed in the Table One cafe on the second-floor of the Shangri La hotel in the country's capital, Colombo, at around 8.30am.
Suspicions are growing that Muslim extremists are behind the attacks after Sri Lankan officials said the seven suicide bombers had 'international help' and also admitted they had missed a warning about a little-known Islamist group called National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ).
The seven bombers co-ordinated their attacks targeting five-star hotels and churches on Easter Sunday in an apparently deliberate attempt to target Westerners and Christians.
Manisha Gunasekera, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, has said eight British nationals were killed in the attacks. In total 32 foreigners have been confirmed dead including two joint UK-US nationals and a number of Dutch, Turkish, Australian and Portuguese people.
Also among the confirmed dead are a British BP lawyer and her 11-year-old son. Anita Nicholson was having breakfast with her family at the Shangri La hotel in Colombo when two suicide bombers walked in and blew themselves up.
Seven suicide bombers killed at least 290 people in coordinated attacks on five-star hotels and churches on Easter Sunday. Pictured: the interior of St Sebastian's church in Negombo
No group has claimed responsibility but cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne has said the attacks were carried out with the help of an international network.
He said: 'We do not believe these attacks were carried out by a group of people who were confined to this country. There was an international network without which these attacks could not have succeeded.'
Sri Lankan police previously pointed towards Islamist group National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ), who were the subject of an intelligence warning ten days before the attacks, as being responsible.
Povlsen, 46, is married to Anne Storm Pedersen. The pair met when Anne began working in sales for Bestseller.
The pair have 11 Scottish estates, and a castle, covering an astonishing 221,000 acres. He is Britain’s biggest private landowner, surpassing the Dukes of Atholl with 144,000 acres and the Prince of Wales, who owns 130,000 acres.
He began building this ever-growing property portfolio 12 years ago, in the autumn of 2006, with the £7.9 million acquisition of Glenfeshie, a 42,000-acre patch of the Cairngorms National Park.
Povlsen and Anne are said to have a '200-year vision' for their estates, which involves rewilding the land, reports the Times.
His father, Troels, began his fashion empire with a single store in 1975. Povlsen now employs 15,000 people and owns brands such as Jack & Jones and Vero Moda, along with almost 30 per cent of ASOS.
Its success has helped him build a fortune estimated at £5.4 billion.
Povlsen and his wife live at Constantinsborg, a neo-classical former royal palace near Aarhus. The couple sends their four children to state schools.
In a statement to Berlingske, Bestseller's spokesperson Jesper Stubkier said: 'Unfortunately, we can confirm that. We ask you to respect privacy and we, therefore, have no further comment.'
Blasts ripped through landmarks around the capital Colombo, and on Sri Lanka's east coast, targeting Christians, hotel guests and foreign tourists yesterday. More than 500 people were wounded.
Brit Alex Nicholson, 11, his mother, Anita, 42, were killed in the Table One cafe on the second-floor of the Shangri La hotel in the country's capital, Colombo, at around 8.30am, The Telegraph reported.
They were on a family holiday. Alex's father Ben Nicholson survived the blast but the whereabouts of the couple's youngest daughter are unknown.
The Nicholsons worked as lawyers based in Singapore, according to their online profiles.
Mrs Nicholson, a former legal adviser to HM Treasury, moved to Singapore to work for oil firm BP in April 2012. According to her Linked profile her current employer was Anglo America, the mining company.
Mr Nicholson was a partner in the Singapore office of Kennedys Legal Solutions and advises clients on insurance law.
A six-foot pipe bomb was later found by air force personal on a routine patrol at the country's main airport Bandaranaike International, also known as Katunayake Airport or Colombo International.
'A PVC pipe which was six feet in length containing explosives in it was discovered,' Air Force Spokesman Gihan Seneviratne told the Sri Lankan Sunday Times.
He said the bomb device was discovered by Air Force personnel on a routine patrol and was disposed by the Explosives Ordinance Disposal Unit of the Air Force in a controlled area.
The airport was put 'on lockdown' while the security forces examined and detonated the device, according to reports from the scene.
It's not clear what kind of detonation method or target was planned, but Air Force Group Captain Gihan Seneviratne said the bomb was large enough to have caused damage to a 400-meter radius.
Yesterday morning, six bombs went off in quick succession before another two blasts two hours later in Sri Lanka's worst violence since the end of its decades-long civil war in 2009.
Alex (left) and Anita (second left) were killed in the blast. Ben Nicholson (right) is reported to be in 'complete shock' having received minor injuries
A map showing where the eight blasts went off yesterday, six of them in very quick succession on Easter Sunday morning
Via - Dailymail
No comments:
Post a Comment