Sri Lanka explosions: 20 killed as churches and hotels targeted
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At least 30 people are reported to have been killed and more than 200 injured in explosions at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.
At least six explosions have been reported. Three churches in Kochchikade, Negombo and Batticaloa were targeted during Easter services.
The Shangri La, Cinnamon Grand and Kingsbury hotels, all in Colombo, were also hit.
Easter Sunday is one of the major feasts in the Christian calendar.
Images on social media showed the inside of one of the churches – St Sebastian’s in Negombo – with a shattered ceiling and blood on the pews.
Sri Lankan media report that foreign tourists may be among the casualties.
Some media outlets have also put the death toll higher and a hospital source in Batticaloa said the death toll there alone could be 27.
A hotel official at the Cinnamon Grand, near the prime minister’s official residence, told Agence France-Presse the explosion there had ripped through a restaurant, killing at least one person.
Government minister Mano Ganeshan, at the scene of one of the blasts in Colombo, expressed his shock at the attacks.
No-one has yet said they were responsible for the attacks.
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