*COLOMBO – Sri Lanka´s government imposed a nationwide curfew Sunday thatpolice said would go into effect immediately and would last “until furthernotice”, after a string of deadly blasts.*
Sri Lanka´s defence ministry initially said the curfew would be imposedovernight, but the police subsequently said it would go into effectstraight away.
Earlier today, Easter Day bomb blasts at three Sri Lankan churches andthree luxury hotels killed at least 185 people and wounded more than 500,hospital and police officials said, following a lull in major attacks sincethe end of the civil war 10 years ago.
More than 50 people were killed in St. Sebastian’s gothic-style Catholicchurch in Katuwapitiya, north of Colombo, a police official told Reuters,with pictures showing bodies on the ground, blood on the pews and adestroyed roof.
Media reported 25 people were also killed in an attack on an evangelicalchurch in Batticaloa in Eastern Province.
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The three hotels hit were the Shangri-La Colombo, Kingsbury Hotel inColombo and the Cinnamon Grand Colombo. It was unclear whether there wereany casualties in the hotels.
Nine foreigners were among the dead, the officials said. There were noimmediate claims of responsibility for the attacks in a country which wasat war for decades with Tamil separatists until 2009 during which bombblasts in the capital were common.
Christian groups say they have faced increasing intimidation from someextremist Buddhist monks in recent years. And last year, there were clashesbetween the majority Sinhalese Buddhist community and minority Muslims,with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people toconvert to Islam.
