A wave of bombings has rocked Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. 

Details 

• At least 207 people have been killed and 450 more injured in a series of explosions targeting churches holding Easter services and hotels in Sri Lanka.
• Most of the dead are believed to have been Sri Lankans, but officials say about 30 people from other countries have lost their lives. Three UK nationals and two US-UK dual nationals were among the dead. One Dutch, one Chinese, one Portuguese and two Turkish nationals have been killed, their respective foreign ministries have confirmed.
• No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks but Sri Lanka’s defence minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, said the culprits had been identified and were religious extremists. He said suicide bombers were responsible for the majority of the morning’s bombings and that the wave of attacks was the work of a single group.
• Eight people have been reported to have been arrested so far.
• The government has imposed a curfew with immediate effect. It also shut down social media and messaging services.
• There were six initial blasts, at three hotels and three churches, before two more explosions some time later, at a guest house and housing scheme, with two people reported to have been killed at the former.
• Harsha de Silva, a government minister, said the last two blasts appeared to have been carried out by the culprits as they fled from police.
• The prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, condemned the “cowardly” attacks and urged people to remain “united and strong”. He convened Sri Lanka’s top military officials at an emergency meeting of the national security council.
• The archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, called it “a very sad day” and urged the government to identify the attackers and “punish them mercilessly because only animals can behave like that”.
• World leaders including Narendra Modi, Imran Khan, Theresa May, Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker and Vladimir Putin condemned the attacks and expressed their sympathies to the victims. May called the violence “truly appalling” and said that “no one should ever have to practise their faith in fear”.

Our latest report is here:

Most of those killed were locals but 36 foreigners are believed to have been killed following the attacks, which no group has yet claimed responsibility for although there have now reportedly been 13 arrests follow a police raid.

The prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, acknowledged that “information was there” about the prospect of possible terrorist attacks, saying that investigations will take place into “why adequate precautions were not taken” while the government attempts to apprehend the perpetrators.

There were six initial blasts, at three hotels and three churches, before two more explosions some time later. One was during the police raid and the other was at a guest house.

The Sri Lankan government has imposed an indefinite curfew and shut down social media and messaging services amid fears over the spread of misinformation and the incitement of racial disharmony.