Ten Indians were killed in the serial blasts that Sri Lanka on Sunday, says India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted on Tuesday. The toll from the deadly suicide bomb attacks in Sri Lanka rose to 310, with several people dying of their injuries overnight, according to a police spokesman.
“Regret to confirm the deaths of two more Indian nationals Mr. A Maregowda and Mr. H Puttaraju in the blasts in Sri Lanka on Sunday, taking the total number of Indian deaths in the tragedy to 10 as of now,” Sushma Swaraj tweeted.
Around 500 people were wounded in the blasts, police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekera said in a statement. He added that 40 people were now under arrest in connection with the attacks, which Sri Lanka’s government has blamed on a previously little-known local Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath.
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Sri Lankans woke to emergency law on Tuesday as authorities searched for those behind suicide bomb attacks. The president’s office declared that emergency law would come into effect from midnight, giving police extensive powers to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders. An overnight curfew was also put into effect.
The declaration came after nerves were frayed even further in the seaside capital Colombo when explosives went off on Monday near one of the churches hit in Sunday’s attacks while bomb squad officers were working to defuse a device.
(with inputs from agencies)