Sri Lanka news: Five British citizens among more than 200 killed after eight explosions hit churches and hotels
Security officials arrest 13 suspects over Easter Sunday violence
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Your support makes all the difference.More than 200 people have been killed and hundreds more injured after eight bombs were detonated at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.
Ruwan Wijewardena, the country’s defence minister, described the blasts as terrorist attacks by religious extremists, though no group has claimed responsibility for the violence.
Most of the explosions are believed to have been suicide bombings, which occurred at sites mainly in and around the capital of Colombo.
Officials said that 13 suspects had been arrested in connection to the attacks.
Three police officers were also killed while carrying out a security raid at a suspected safe house several hours after the blasts occurred.
The majority of the victims are Sri Lankan but several citizens of other countries were also killed.
At least five British citizens lost their lives in the attacks.
Citizens from the US, Turkey, Denmark, China and Portugal were also among the dead.
The Sri Lankan government has declared a dawn-to-dusk curfew in Colombo and blocked access to social media and messaging sites, including Facebook and WhatsApp.
It is unclear when the curfew will be lifted.
Additional reporting by agencies
If you would like to read about the aftermath of the attacks please see what was our live coverage below:
Sri Lankan authorities have blocked most social media sites in the country following Sunday's attacks, according to a group which monitors internet censorship.
The NetBlocks observatory says it detected an intentional nationwide blackout of popular services.
Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Instagram have all been blocked.
Sri Lankan officials said that they were temporarily blocking social media to curtail the spread of false information and ease tensions until their investigation is concluded.
NetBlocks director Alp Toker said such post-attack shutdowns were often ineffective and can end up creating an information vacuum that's easily exploited.
A spokesperson for Facebook said that people relied on its services to communicate with loved ones and that it was committing to maintaining service in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremsinghe has said his government had some "prior information of the attack", though ministers were not told.
He added there needed to be an inquiry into how the information was used.
The politician also said the government needed to look at the international links of a local militant group.
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