35 foreigners reportedly among those killed by Sri Lankan blasts

Up to 35 foreigners were among 200 people killed in a series of explosions across in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

The number has been reported by AFP, citing a police official. Hospital sources have said the victims include American, British and Dutch citizens. Later, the local News First TV Channel reported that the list of foreigners killed in the blasts included citizens of Denmark, Japan and Morocco, as well as India and Pakistan.

Some earlier reports also suggested that at least two Chinese citizens and two Turks were among the victims. More than 400 people were injured by the blasts.

Six bombings struck three Christian churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka during Easter Sunday religious services. They were followed by two additional explosions. Most of the targets were in or near the island’s commercial capital of Colombo, where one of the hotels is located around 200 meters from the prime minister’s residence.

Sri Lanka’s police chief reportedly received warning about possible bombing attacks by radical Islamist group NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) 10 days before Sunday’s blasts. According to an alert cited by AFP, the warning came from “a foreign intelligence agency.”

Sri Lanka has not seen violence on this scale since the end of the civil war against Tamil Tigers militants in 2009. However, there have been multiple reports of minority religious groups – including Christians, which constitute about 7 percent of the country's worshipers, and Muslims, about 10 percent – being harassed and attacked by Buddhist monks.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!