At least 156 people were confirmed dead in an Easter Sunday terrorist attack targeting Christians in Sri Lanka after eight explosions ripped through high-end hotels and churches as suspected suicide bombers blew themselves up.
According to Daily Mail UK, the initial six explosions injured as many as 500 people, including Japanese and British citizens, and 35 foreigners – from the UK, US, Netherlands and Portugal – are among the dead, sources say.
According to available reports, the was the seventh explosion in the southern Colombo suburb of Dehiwala – which killed two people – and an eighth in the northern suburb of Orugodawatta, which killed three police officers during a house search.
Interestingly, it was gathered that the Sri Lanka’s police chief had made a nationwide alert 10 days before today’s bombings, warning that Islamic extremists planned suicide bombings at ‘prominent churches’, sources say, but it is not yet clear who is responsible for the attacks – and no one has claimed responsibility.
A curfew has been ordered by the Sri Lanka’s defence ministry with immediate effect ‘until further notice’, and the Sri Lankan government said it had shut down access to social media messaging services, sources say.
State minister of defence Ruwan Wijewardene said investigators have identified the culprits behind the ‘terrorist’ attacks, and those responsible were religious extremists who would be taken into custody ‘as soon as possible’
