The Sri Lankan government has deployed troops and imposed a curfew after clashes broke out between Catholic and Muslim communities in Negambo, one of the sites of the Easter Sunday bombings.

Mobs attacked homes and businesses in the first reported outbreak of violence since the bombings on churches and luxury hotels that left 257 dead. The Easter attacks, carried out by eight Sri Lankan suicide bombers were claimed by Isil.

Eye witnesses to Sunday’s clashes said that they began with a scuffle between Catholic and Muslim three-wheel trishaw drivers in Poharathota, a Muslim settlement.

“It just escalated from there, ending in Muslim houses being damaged and a few trishaws set on fire,” said Luxman Perera, a carpenter at the St. Sebastian’s Church.

The successive violence “seemed coordinated”, residents told The Telegraph.

“People took advantage of the situation and the violence spread very quickly,” said Mohamed Nizam, a shopkeeper.

The Dhalupotha mosque, some four miles from the area where the initial fight broke out, was pelted with stones and damaged by men wielding sticks.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Malcom Ranjith, condemned the violence, which left homes in Muslim settlements badly damaged.

“We were terrified. A mob of about eight to ten men swinging huge poles and some of them wearing helmets broke our door and rushed into our house last night. They were screaming that they will kill us,” a mother of two, who asked to be identified as just Fathima, told The Telegraph.