Sri Lanka bombings: eight arrests after eight explosions kill 207, injure hundreds in bloody Easter Sunday attacks
- Eighth blast said to be a suicide bombing in a home that was being searched by police
- Sri Lanka’s most senior Catholic figure called on the government to find the attackers and ‘punish them mercilessly’
Sri Lanka was locked down under a nationwide curfew yesterday as authorities launched a massive security operation following a wave of coordinated bombings at churches and hotels that left more than 200 people dead and hundreds injured.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned the attacks – which also killed dozens of foreigners, including two mainland Chinese.
His government shut down social media networks in an attempt to clamp down on the spread of misinformation, while some officials admitted they had no idea who was behind the devastation – the worst the country had seen since the civil war that ended in 2009.
The first six explosions were reported within a short period in the morning just as churches were beginning their Easter Sunday services and hotel guests ate breakfast.
They were followed by two blasts about two hours later – one near a zoo and another in suburban Colombo.
One of the initial explosions in the capital Colombo was at St Anthony’s Shrine, a Catholic church in Kochchikade – a popular tourist spot.