SRI Lanka today imposed a state of emergency hours after the government blamed a local Islamist group for a series of suicide bomb blasts that killed at least 290 people, including dozens of foreigners.

Twenty-four people have been arrested over the coordinated Easter Sunday assault on multiple churches and hotels in the capital Colombo and beyond, authorities said.

The carnage – which also left some 500 people injured – was the worst atrocity since the South Asian country’s civil war ended a decade ago.

The attacks were also the worst ever against Sri Lanka’s small Christian minority, who make up just 7% of the country’s population of 21 million.

Investigators are now hunting for clues on whether the National Thowheeth Jama’ath (NTJ) group received “international support”, said minister and government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne.

The spokesman added that it was not possible for such “a small organisation” to carry out such well-coordinated suicide strikes.

The state of emergency, which gave police and the military special powers to counter militant strikes, came into force at midnight. Suspects can be detained without a court order.

The country was already observing a second straight night-time curfew since the attacks.

Officials are also investigating why more precautions were not taken after an April 11 warning from Sri Lanka’s police that a “foreign intelligence agency” reported the NTJ planned suicide attacks on churches. 

Senaratne said the warning was not passed on to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe or other top ministers. 

“Intelligence sections have reported that there are international terror groups which are behind local terrorists,” President Maithripala Sirisena’s office said in a statement. 

Sirisena was due to meet with foreign diplomats today “to seek international assistance to combat terrorism”, his office said.

Tensions remained high, with a bomb detonating as police prepared to defuse it near one of the targeted churches. Although there was a powerful blast, no injuries were reported. 

Police also found 87 bomb detonators at a Colombo bus station.

The toll rose dramatically yesterday to at least 290 dead.

A police source told AFP that at least 37 foreigners were killed, while the tourism minister put that figure at 39 and the foreign ministry said there were 31 foreigners among the fatalities.

That number was likely to shift again, as the United States reported at least four Americans killed, including a young student, and the Netherlands raised its toll to three. 

A Danish billionaire lost three of his children in the attacks, a spokesman for his company said.

The death toll also included eight Britons, eight Indians and nationals from Turkey, Australia, France, Japan and Portugal, according to Sri Lankan officials and foreign governments.

Several of those killed were dual nationals.

The suicide bombers hit three Colombo luxury hotels popular with foreign tourists – the Cinnamon Grand, the Shangri-La and the Kingsbury – and three churches: two in the Colombo region and one in the eastern city of Batticaloa.

Two additional blasts were triggered as security forces carried out raids searching for suspects. 

Interpol said it was deploying investigators and specialists to Sri Lanka, and the US State Department warned of possible further attacks in a travel advisory. – AFP, April 23, 2019.