Web Report

Nearly 290 people were killed in Sri Lanka after a series of near-simultaneous explosions ripped through three churches and three high-end hotels in three cities on Easter Sunday, media reports said quoting police.

The blasts hit three hotels and one church in the capital, while two other churches were targeted outside Colombo, in Negombo and Batticaloa, police said. The nature of the blasts was not immediately clear, but an official speaking on condition of anonymity said police suspects the blasts at the churches in Colombo and Batticaloa were carried out by suicide bombers. There have been no immediate claims of responsibility.

President Maithripala Sirisena in an address said he was shocked by the explosions and appealed for calm. An emergency security council meeting has been called by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, media reports said.

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, writing on his verified Twitter account, said the attacks had killed “many innocent people” and appeared to be a “well-coordinated attempt to create murder, mayhem and anarchy.”

The first explosions were reported at St Anthony’s Church in Colombo and St Sebastian’s Church in the town of Negombo just outside the capital.

An individual identified as Alex Agileson who was in the vicinity said the buildings in the surrounding area shook with the blast. He said a number of injured were carried off in ambulances.

At least 160 people injured in the St Anthony’s blast have been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital by mid-morning, according to media reports. National Hospital spokesperson Dr. Samindi Samarakoon said nearly 300 wounded were admitted to the capital’s main hospital.

“A bomb attack to our church, please come and help if your family members are there,” read a post in English on the Facebook page of the St Sebastian’s Church at Katuwapitiya in Negombo.
Shortly after those blasts were reported, police confirmed three hotels in the capital had also been hit, along with a church in the town of Batticalao, in the east of the country.

Photos circulating on social media showed the roof of one church had been almost blown off in the blast. The floor was littered with a mixture of roof tiles, splintered wood and blood. Several people could be seen covered in blood, with some trying to help those with more serious injuries. The images could not immediately be verified.

Only around 6 per cent of mainly Buddhist Sri Lanka is Catholic, but the religion is seen as a unifying force because it includes people from both the Tamil and majority Sinhalese ethnic groups.