Sri Lanka Blasts: Multiple Blasts in Churches, Hotels – 160 dead, 300 injured

• Sri Lanka Blasts: Multiple Blasts in Churches, Hotels – 160 dead, 300 injured

At least 138 people were killed and more than 400 other injured after six near simultaneous blasts hit three Sri Lankan churches and three five-star hotels on Easter Sunday. These are the first major attacks since the end of the civil war 10 years ago. According to local reports, the blasts in hotels and churches in different parts of the country occurred at around 8.45 am (local time) as the Easter Sunday masses were in progress in churches.

In just one church, St. Sebastian’s in Katuwapitiya Colombo, more than 50 people had been killed.

Media reported 25 people were also killed in an attack on a church in Batticaloa in Eastern Province.

At least nine foreigners dead in the blasts

Sri Lanka’s police chief had made a nationwide alert 10 days before today’s bomb attacks.