srilanka bombings death toll raises to 290 in suiside terror attack

Bloody civil war ended 10 years ago in Srilanka relapses yesterday morning. Eight coordinated explosions that tore through churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday have killed at least 290 people and injured another 500, in what officials said. Now Srilanka folds in emergency all over the country. Police have arrested 24 people in connection with the suicide bombs, the worst violence the South Asian island has seen since its A ninth improvised explosive device (IED) was defused near the capital colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport on Sunday evening. The blasts appears to have targeted tourism hotspots, as well as churches, in a bid to gain maximum global attention. Foreign nationals are among the dead, including five British citizens, two of whom held dual US-UK nationality, three Indians, two Australians, two Chinese cousins, one person from the Netherlands, two Turkish citizens and one Portuguese person. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. But Sri Lankan Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said the "terrorist incident" was carried out by those following "religious extremism."On Sunday evening it was revealed in a leaked memo that police had been warned of a potential attack by the Nations Thawahid Jaman (NTJ), an Islamist group led by Mohomad Saharan. It is unclear whether the information related to Sunday's bombings.NTJ is a little-known group, which has previously defaced Buddhist statues, and was unlikely to have the capacity or sophistication to execute an attack like Sunday's without assistance.While there is a known transnational Islamist presence in places such as Pakistan, Malaysia, and the Philippines, Jaishankar said little is known about Islamic radicalism in Sri Lanka and that it was "premature" to speculate on which organizations might have been involved.Christianity is a minority religion in Sri Lanka, accounting for less than 10% of the total population of 21.4 million. According to census data, 70.2% of Sri Lankans identify as Buddhist, 12% Hindu, 9.7% Muslim, and 7.4% Christian. It is estimated that 82% of Sri Lankan Christians are Roman Catholic.