Alaina Teplitz on the Terror Attacks in Sri Lanka

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Give me a sense of the emotion, of the feeling in Sri Lanka right now.

ALAINA TEPLITZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SRI LANKA: Well, my team and I have been working with families, American families who were impacted by this attack. We visited people in hospitals. We’ve visited morgues, been trying to help them address the aftermath. Not only is there just deep sadness, I think, across the island, but as a wave of funerals began, I think the human toll of this is really coming home.

AMANPOUR: You’ve had a chance to meet with the Americans affected. What have you been able to say? What have they said to you? Describe to me some of the content of your meetings.

TEPLITZ: Yes. My team and I have spent a great deal of time with Americans that are affected. We’ve been in touch with their families in the United States. It’s really a grim moment. Nobody wants to face a circumstance when they’re either the victim of this kind of thing, or worse still, lose their loved ones in an event like this. It’s been tough, I think, for the families, also, because it was so sudden and so unexpected. This is the kind of thing that I think that we’re here to help do, which is work with American citizens to help them address the challenges that are brought by this kind of event. But it’s also a really sad moment. You can’t help but be impacted by the grief that is on display. You can’t help but be impacted by the loss that you know people feel. And of course, we’re seeing that not just in the American community but also broadly, so many families in Sri Lanka lost loved ones. Funerals began today. It’s just a terrible moment, and our condolences and our hearts go out.

AMANPOUR: The president, President Trump, spoke to the prime minister yesterday. What help is the U.S. offering? Is the FBI going? How will the U.S. be able to help in whatever needs to be done in the aftermath?

TEPLITZ: Yes, the president has promised his support and of course, resources of the U.S. government to proceed with this investigation. We are supporting the government of Sri Lanka’s efforts to get to the bottom of this and that includes support from the FBI.

AMANPOUR: And everybody’s trying to figure out why and who and what, and the prime minister held a press conference today and there are claims by ISIS for this string of Easter Sunday bombings. There’s no apparent hard evidence that it is ISIS. What do you believe? What does the U.S. government believe in terms of this claim and who might have been ultimately responsible?

TEPLITZ: Well, I’ve certainly heard the reports that ISIS has claimed responsibility for this attack. The investigation is ongoing.