A 10-day state of emergency has been declared in Sri Lanka after sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims in the Kandy region left a man dead, government officials said.

Soldiers and police were upholding a curfew in Kandy after mobs set fire to shops and a mosque - resulting in the body of a Muslim man being found in the ashes of a burnt building.

President Maithripala Sirisena made the declaration, saying security services had been empowered to deal with “criminal elements” and to restore normality on the island.

Communal tensions have been bubbling for the past year, with some Buddhist hardline groups such as the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam and vandalising religious sites.

BBS activists have also protested against the presence in Sri Lanka of Muslim Rohingya refugees from Burma, also known as Myanmar, where Buddhist nationalism has also seen a recent surge.