Mass funeral and day of mourning in Sri Lanka

As Sri Lanka marks a day of mourning for victims of the bomb blasts on Easter Sunday, the first mass funeral has begun.

Police said on Tuesday that the death toll of the attacks on churches and hotels included has gone up to 310.

A state of emergency is now in effect to avoid further attacks, as the country has observed three minutes of silence.

For the series of blasts that went off, the Sri Lanka’s government has blamed it on a local Islamist group National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ).

And meanwhile, a spokesman has reported that 40 suspects have now been detained in connections with the attack on Tuesday.

The mass funeral is happening currently at St Sebastian’s church in Negombo, north of Colombo, which was one of the places targeted in Sunday’s blasts.

Earlier, at 8:30 (03:00GMT), a moment of silence was observed as they reflected the time the first of six bombs detonated.

In respect to the group victims and all the 500 people injured as a result of the attacks, flags were lowered to half mast and people bowed their heads in silence.

The current state of emergency in effect has given the police and the military sweeping authority to detain any suspects even without court orders – these were powers that were last used during Sri Lanka’s civil war.

And after the blasts, access to Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram has been blocked by the government.

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