Another bomb explodes next to a church in Sri Lanka
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A fresh explosion has rocked the Sri Lankan capital Colombo as bomb squad officials were trying to defuse a device.
The explosion took place near St Anthony’s Shrine in Sri Lanka, one of the sites targeted on Sunday, in a series of attacks which killed nearly 300 people.The blast was reported to have happened inside a van near the church that was attacked on Sunday.
No injuries have been reported.
Security personal react as a device was detonated in a controlled explosion in a van near the St Anthony’s Church Kochchikade in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
On Monday the group National Thowheed Jama’ath, a local militant Islamist group, was named by a government minister as having carried out the attacks.
Indian media is quoting sources in the country’s coast guard as saying their officers are on high alert in the narrow sea channel – the Palk Strait – between Sri Lanka and the southern tip of India to prevent any of the perpetrators fleeing the island nation by sea.
Sri Lankan police have found 87 bomb detonators at the main bus station in the capital, Colombo.
Sri Lankan people run for safety as authorities announced an evacuation of the area after a van was found parked with a suspected explosive device near St Anthony’s Church Kochchikade in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Security forces are carrying out searches across the island to find those behind the bombs.
Sri Lanka’s President, Maithripala Sirisena, will ask for foreign assistance to track international links to the suicide bombings at churches and luxury hotels. He also declared a nationwide emergency from midnight on Monday which will grant police and the military extensive powers to detain and interrogate without court orders.
