Death toll in Sri Lanka blasts rise to 215, injured swell to 500

In one of the worst-ever serial blasts, all in at eight places, on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka churches and hotels, has claimed so far 215 lives, while 500 others, who grievously injured were treated in various hospitals across the island country.

This shatters the decade long peace that prevailed after the longest-ever war the island country has to fight against Liberation Tigers of Tami Eelam (LTTE).

The blasts, which are considered as one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s history, targeted St Anthoy’s Church in Colombo, St Sebastian’s Church in the western coastal town of Negombo and Zion Church in the eastern town of Batlicaloa around 8.45 am (local time) as the Easter Sunday mass were in progress, according to spokesperson of police Ruwan Gunasekara.

Apart from these Churches, explosions were also reported from three five star hotels – the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury in Colombo.

While police spokesperson Gunasekara confirmed about 207, the News 1^st Channel has put it around 215.

Explosions were reported from three five-star hotels – the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury in Colombo.

.Among those killed are an Indian, two Chinese and one each from Poland, Denmark, Japan, Pakistan, America, Morocco and Bangladesh are among the dead at the National Hospital.  As many as 500 people, including Indians, were injured in the attacks.

So far no group has claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attacks.

Most of the deadly attacks in the past in Sri Lanka were carried out by the LTTE which ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.