Sri Lanka serial blasts: 87 bomb detonators found at bus station
Colombo, Apr 22 (UNI) A total of 87 detonators were found at a private bus stand in Bastian Mawatha by the Pettah Police on Monday.
Initially, police had discovered 12 detonators at the bus stand at around 1 pm . However, upon clearing a garbage heap in the same location, police had discovered 75 more detonators, Police Media Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara said.
The detonators had been inspected by the Special Task Force (STF) and were handed over to the Scene Of Crime Officers (SOCO) for further investigations, Times online reported.
No suspect has been arrested so far, police said adding that Pettah police are conducting further investigations in this regard.
The death toll in Sunday's explosions has risen to 290 while the number of injured persons stands at over 500, police said on Monday.
Five Indians are among the 290 killed in the terror attack which ripped through through Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.
Police spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara has confirmed that 24 suspects have been so far arrested and investigations were ongoing to nab more suspects. Two of the suspects have been nabbed from Dambulla in the Central Province on Monday morning, the spokesperson said.
The attacks started Sunday morning as explosions were reported from the St. Anthony's Church in Kochchikade in capital Colombo and another from the St. Sebastians Church in Negombo, in the outskirts of the capital. A third explosion was reported from the Zion Church in Batticaloa, in the east.
Sir Lanka’s bloody 26-year civil war waged between Government forces and Tamil separatists in the north, ended in 2009 with the defeat of the rebels, and in the years since, there has been sporadic violence, some targeting religious minorities.
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