COLOMBO: Suicide bombers were involved in at least two of the deadly blasts that ripped through churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday (Apr 21) killing around 160 people, according to police and hotel officials.

The eighth blast, in a house in a northern suburb of the capital Colombo, was caused by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives when police entered the residence to search it, a police source told AFP.





The explosion brought down the upper level of the house and killed three police officers, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



The blast was the latest in a string targeting mostly hotels and churches that have killed around 160 people in a day.



A hotel official at the Cinnamon Grand hotel, one of three hotels in the capital that were hit by explosions, said a suicide bomber blew himself up at people at the facility's restaurant.

"He came up to the top of the queue and set off the blast," he told AFP.

The nature of the other blasts has not yet been confirmed, and there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the deadly attacks, the worst act of violence in Sri Lanka since the end of the country's civil war a decade ago.

