india

Updated: Apr 23, 2019 00:22 IST

At least six persons from Karnataka were confirmed to killed in Sunday’s blasts in Sri Lanka, chief minister HD Kumaraswamy’s office confirmed. Of them, five were workers of the Janata Dal (Secular) party.

Kumaraswamy said four victims – Lakshmana Gowda Ramesh, KM Lakshminarayan, M Rangappa and KG Hanumantharayappa – were touring Sri Lanka, along with H Shivukumar, Maregowda and H Puttaraju.

“I am deeply pained at the loss of their lives in the heinous attack. They were also committed workers of our party and their death has brought immense sorrow to us,” the chief minister said on Twitter on Monday.

Kumaraswamy said Shivukumar, Maregowda and Puttaraju were missing. His office confirmed later that Shivukumar too was killed in the attack . All five were staying at the Shangri La hotel in Colombo, according to Rajat B, a friend of one of the victims’ son.

Rajat said the group, all of whom hailed from Nelamangala on the outskirts of Bengaluru, had left for Sri Lanka on Saturday, after polling was completed for the first phase of 14 seats in the state.

“My friend Chetan, son of Hanumantharayappa, was not able to trace his father and so I helped him try and reach people on Sunday after news broke out about the blasts,” he said. “Early Monday morning the official information was passed on confirming his death,” he added.

Later on Monday, officials confirmed the death of 46-year-old SR Nagaraj, who hailed from Bengaluru.