Sri Lanka has shut down social media and messaging services after at least 185 people were killed and several others injured after a series of coordinated bomb blasts at a number of high-end hotels and churches across Sri Lanka on Sunday morning.
The blasts, reported to have occurred at churches in Kochchikade, Negombo and Batticaloa, targeted worshippers as they attended Easter services. Additional blasts ripped through three hotels, the Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury Hotel, all in the capital, Colombo, according to state broadcaster SLRC.
At least nine foreigners are among at least 50 dead at the Colombo National Hospital following the explosions, according to hospital sources. In total, more than 260 people injured in the blasts have been admitted to the hospital in the wake of the attack.
More than 35 people were injured in the explosion at Katuwapitiya Church in Negombo, while more than 300 people have been hospitalized following the blast at the Zion Church in Batticaloa.
The death toll was expected to rise further.
Sri Lankan security officials said police and security services immediately rushed to all affected areas and sealed off the churches and hotels.
In a statement, the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo said that the hotel’s Table One cafe was hit just after 9 a.m local time. The hotel is popular with foreign tourists and the country’s business community.
Sri Lankan security personnel keep watch outside a church in Colombo after a blast Sunday.
Dailyactive will keep you posted..