More than 200 killed as blasts hit Sri Lankan churches, hotels on Easter Sunday

A series of eight devastating bomb blasts ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services in Sri Lanka on Sunday, killing at least 207 people, including dozens of foreigners.

The powerful blasts – six in quick succession and then two more hours later – wrought devastation at sites in and around the Sri Lankan capital, including at the well-known St Anthony's Shrine, a historic Catholic Church.

An AFP photographer at the scene at St Anthony's saw bodies lying on the floor, some draped with scarves and clothes. Much of the church roof was blown out in the explosion, with roof tiles, glass and splintered wood littering the floor along with pools of blood.

Local TV showed damage at the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels in Colombo, which are frequented by foreign tourists. The Shangri-La's second-floor restaurant was gutted in the blast, with the ceiling and windows blown out.

At least 207 people were killed and another 450 were wounded in the multiple blasts, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said. The police also said that three officers were killed in a raid on a house in the capital following the attacks.

The defence minister says seven suspects linked to the blasts have been arrested.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the blasts, but documents seen by AFP show that Sri Lanka's police chief Pujuth Jayasundara issued an intelligence alert to top officers 10 days ago, warning that suicide bombers planned to hit "prominent churches".

Sri Lanka's government has ordered a night-time curfew and said it was shutting down access to social media and messaging services.

"I strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today," Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe wrote in a tweet, calling on "all Sri Lankans during this tragic time to remain united and strong".

The multiple blasts mark the worst outburst of violence in Sri Lanka since the South Asian country's bloody civil war ended a decade ago.

World leaders reacted in horror to Sunday's attacks, with Pope Francis saying he stood with the victims of "such cruel violence" in his traditional Easter Mass.

In a message posted on Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron said he "firmly condemned the odious acts" perpetrated on Easter Sunday, expressing France's solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka.

'Horrible scenes'

The first explosions were reported at St Anthony's Church in Colombo and St Sebastian's in the town of Negombo just outside the capital.

"A bomb attack to our church, please come and help if your family members are there," read a post in English on the Facebook page of St Sebastian's Church.

Local witness Alex Agileson, who was in the vicinity, said buildings in the surrounding area shook with the blast. He said a number of injured were carried in ambulances.

Dozens of people injured in the St Anthony's blast flooded into the Colombo National Hospital by mid-morning, an official told AFP.

Sri Lankan churches 'have come under increasing attacks'

"Emergency meeting called in a few minutes. Rescue operations underway," Sri Lanka's Minister of Economic Reforms and Public Distribution, Harsha de Silva, said in a tweet on his verified account.

He said he had been to two of the attacked hotels and was at the scene at St Anthony's Shrine and described "horrible scenes".

"I saw many body parts strewn all over," he tweeted, adding that there were "many casualties including foreigners".

"Please stay calm and indoors," he added.

Photos circulating on social media showed the roof of one church had been almost blown off in the blast. The floor was littered with a mixture of roof tiles, splintered wood and blood. The images could not immediately be verified.

Only around six percent of mainly Buddhist Sri Lanka is Catholic, but the religion is seen as a unifying force because it includes people from both the Tamil and majority Sinhalese ethnic groups.

Christian groups say they have faced increasing intimidation from some extremist Buddhist monks in recent years. And last year, there were clashes between the Sinhalese Buddhist community and minority Muslims.