According to @Breaking911, the number who were killed in the Colombo explosions has now reached 310. At least 500 have been confirmed as injured after the series of attacks on hotels and churches across the country’s capital city occurred on Easter Sunday. Today the country will go into mourning to remember those lost in the devastating explosions.
The latest figures come after the country was granted emergency powers were put in place to allow the Sri Lankan police and military to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders.
The power came into force at midnight local time on Monday, Sky News reported.
A government minister has blamed militant group National Thawheed Jama’ut for the attacks.
Sri Lankan police are currently investigating whether previous warnings of the attack were ignored or missed.
READ MORE: Briton’s entire family ‘mercifully’ WIPED OUT in Sri Lanka masacre
On Monday, reports suggested that another blast happened in Colombo, with 87 low-explosive detonators were found at the main bus station in Pettah, near the east of the capital.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but a local extreme Muslims are believed to have been behind them.
Health minister Rajitha Senaratne said he believed the Islamist group National Towheed Jamath (NTJ) was responsible.
Pope Francis has called for universal condemnation of what he said were “never justifiable terrorist, inhuman acts”.
Hours after Sunday’s attacks, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the government had some prior information about a possible attack by Islamist extremists.
Reports suggest that a domestic intelligence report dated April 11 which said a foreign intelligence agency had warned the authorities of possible attacks.
Two British teenage siblings were named among eight UK citizens to have perished.
Daniel Linsey, 19, and Amelie, 15, died as they desperately attempted to escape from Colombo’s Shangri-La hotel.