By Agencies
Colombo: More casualties are being reported after the Easter Sunday terrorist bomb attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.
Eight explosions took place in Sri Lanka in which three churches and three hotels were targeted. They constituted the worst attacks to have happened in Sri Lanka’s modern history, exceeding even the most notorious terror attacks of the country’s 25-year civil war, which ended in 2009. Reports coming in indicate that the death toll has so far risen to 310 bodies, although it is expected to rise, because of the overwhelming numbers of injured people.
Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera has reportedly said that around 500 people were wounded in the blasts, adding that 40 people were now under arrest in connection with the attacks, which Sri Lanka’s government has blamed on the local Islamist group National Thowheeth Jamaath. However, Reuters has quoted a number of sources as saying that Sri Lankan police have detained a Syrian national for questioning over the Easter Sunday attacks. “The terrorist investigation division of the police arrested a Syrian national following the attacks for interrogation. He was arrested after an interrogation of local suspects,” the sources said. According to previous reports, 290 people were killed and 500 were injured in the explosions.
The local media outlet News 1st reported that the number of those wounded in the attacks now stands at 480. Earlier, Sri Lanka’s Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne had said that the bombings had been organised by the local group National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) and that they had been carried out with help of a vast international network. Sri Lanka’s authorities have since introduced and re-introduced curfews, deploying an extra 1,000 troops in the capital Colombo, so as to avert any other possible attack and to net all culprits involved in the terrorism.
