Sri Lanka bombings have claimed the lives of at least 207 people

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The coordinated series of explosions targeted churches holding Easter services. The blasts also targeted four hotels, including the Shangri-La, Kingsbury and the Cinnamon Grand in Colombo. Most victims were Sri Lankan, but dozens of foreigners were also killed.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks.

The nature of the blasts is not immediately clear, but documents seen by AFP show that Sri Lanka's police chief Pujuth Jayasundara issued an intelligence alert to top officers 10 days ago.

In this he warned that suicide bombers planned to hit "prominent churches".

The alert said: “A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama'ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo.”

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