Sri Lanka bomb blasts: Fresh explosion near church in Colombo

Colombo, Apr 22: An explosion went off in a van near a church in Colombo, Sri Lanka when bomb squad of Special Task Force (STF) officials were trying to defuse it.

The Sri Lanka Police also found 87 bomb detonators at Colombo main bus station, a day after the island nation was shaken by serial blasts killing 290 people and wounding 500 others.

The National Tawheed Jamath outfit is suspected to be behind the deadly serial bomb blasts that ripped through churches and hotels and claimed nearly 300 lives on Easter, Sri Lankan minister Rajitha Senaratne said on Monday. The seven suicide bombers who had carried out the attacks were Sri Lankan nationals, he added.

Twenty-four persons were arrested in connection with the eight bombs blasts that left nearly killing 290 people and 500 injured. Late on Sunday, authorities defused an improvised pipe bomb on a road leading to the main terminal of the Colombo airport. Social media services continued to remain blocked in the country to curtail the spread of false information and ease tensions until the probe into the blasts is concluded.