207 killed on Easter as religious extremists bomb churches and hotels in Sri Lanka

More than 207 people were killed and 450 injured as Sri Lanka faced one of the deadliest bombing attacks since the country’s civil war ended more than a decade ago.

The deaths include at least 35 foreigners from Belgium, China, Britain and the U.S.

The nation’s Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardena has described the bombings as a terrorist attack set up by religious extremists in one specific group.

As of now, no terrorist group has claimed the attack, nor has the group been identified.

Thankfully, seven individuals have already been arrested in relation to the attacks, while security forces continue their investigation.

At the peak of the chaos, Sri Lankan officials also temporarily blocked several social media networks and set up a nationwide curfew from 6 am Sunday to 6 am Monday.

The name of the bomber involved in the Shangra La Hotel has been revealed, alongside a second individual as the police continue their investigation.

Editor’s Note: We will not be posting the name of the bomber on our site, as our guidelines forbid us from posting the names of individuals involved in mass-murders with political ideologies. In most cases, these individuals want to gain fame, and we will not help them do so.

While no official reasoning has been given, “documents seen by AFP show that Sri Lanka’s police chief Pujuth Jayasundara issued an intelligence alert to top officers 10 days ago”, warning that suicide bombers planned to hit “prominent churches”.

“A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,” the alert said.

According to Deccan Chronicle,  NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that was linked last year to the vandalism of Buddhist statues.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.