Sri Lankan govt to reimpose night-time curfew after multiple blasts

"The police curfew which was lifted at 6 this morning is to be re-imposed at 8 pm Monday until 4 am Tuesday," the Government Information Department said.

Sri Lanka blasts (Image Soure: AFP)

Colombo: A day after multiple blasts rocked Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, the government on Monday ordered a new night-time curfew following the multiple suicide attacks on Sunday that killed 290 people and wounded 500 others.  

 The decision to reimpose curfew comes hours after authorities lifted a previous curfew Monday morning.

"The police curfew which was lifted at 6 this morning is to be re-imposed at 8 pm Monday until 4 am Tuesday," the Government Information Department said.

A string of eight powerful blasts, including suicide attacks, struck churches and luxury hotels frequented by foreigners in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 290 people, including six Indians, and shattering a decade of peace in the island nation since the end of the civil war with the LTTE.

Following Sunday's attack, the island nation had imposed a mid time curfew with immediate effect.

A string of eight powerful blasts, including suicide attacks, struck churches and luxury hotels frequented by foreigners in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 215 people, including three Indians, and shattering a decade of peace in the island nation since the end of the brutal civil war with the LTTE. The blasts - one of the deadliest attacks in the country's history - targeted St Anthony's Church in Colombo, St Sebastian's Church in the western coastal town of Negombo and Zion Church in the eastern town of Batticaloa around 8.45 a.m. (local time) as the Easter Sunday mass were in progress, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said. Explosions were reported from three five-star hotels - the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury in Colombo. Gunasekera confirmed 207 deaths. However, the News 1st channel said that 215 people have died in the blasts. Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism Kishu Gomes said 33 foreign nationals have been killed in the coordinated attacks believed to be carried out by a single group. Director of the National Hospital Dr Anil Jasinghe identified 12 of the 33 foreign nationals, which include three Indians, two Chinese and one each from Poland, Denmark, Japan, Pakistan, America, Morocco and Bangladesh.