More than 200 killed in Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka churches, hotels (photos)

At least 200 people were killed and 450 wounded on Easter Sunday bomb blasts at three churches and four hotels in Sri Lanka, the first major attack on the Indian Ocean island since the end of a civil war 10 years ago.

Seven people were arrested and three police officers were killed during a security forces raid on a house in the Sri Lankan capital several hours after the rash of attacks, some of which officials said were suicide bombs.

The government declared a curfew in Colombo and blocked access to social media and messaging sites, including Facebook and WhatsApp. It was unclear when the curfew would be lifted.

Altogether, we have information of 207 dead from all hospitals. According to the information as of now we have 450 injured people admitted to hospitals, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera told reporters. At least 27 of the dead were foreigners.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks in a country which was at war for decades with Tamil separatists until 2009, a time when bomb blasts in the capital were common.

Local Christian groups have said they faced increasing intimidation from some extremist Buddhist monks in recent years. Last year, there were clashes between the majority Sinhalese Buddhist community and minority Muslims, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam.

Dozens were killed in one of the blasts at St. Sebastian’s Gothic-style Catholic church in Katuwapitiya, north of Colombo. Gunasekera said the police suspected a suicide attack there. 

Reuters