During the raid, militants linked to the Easter suicide bombings opened fire and set off explosives, leaving behind a grisly discovery Saturday: 15 bodies, including six children. Sri Lankan police and army soldiers secure the site after an explosion and a gunbattle in Kalmunai, eastern Sri Lanka. Credit:AP A girl and a woman survived the explosion at the suspected safe house but were critically injured and being treated at a hospital, Gunasekara said. Photographs taken by The Associated Press show the charred remains of one child and the body of another wearing a green T-shirt with the words "good boy" written on the back. The bodies of an adult woman and man were found after the explosion with their clothes burned off.

Ruwan Gunasekara said police commandos backed by the army had surrounded a house in Sainthamaruthu, 364 kilometres east of the capital, late Friday, over suspicions of a link with last weekend's deadly Easter bombings. A soldier attends to a toddler after she was found at the site of the explosion. Credit:AP They encountered firing from inside and soon after at least three explosions were heard from inside the house, he said. "We have searched the place and found 15 bodies of which 12 of them were inside the house and three outside," Gunasekara said. Three of the dead were women and six were children. He said police believed one or more suicide bombers had carried out the blasts.

Ten-day-old Amdad Ahamed sleeps at a community centre, where his family has taken refuge in for fear of retaliation towards their community after the Easter Sunday bombings, in Pasyala, north east of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Credit:AP Another woman and a child injured in the incident have been admitted to hospital. A major search operation is under way in the area which is a predominant Muslim area under an extended indefinite curfew. A few hours before the encounter, police arrested seven people and detected a large quantity of explosives from a residential house located six kilometres (3.8 miles) away. During the operation in Sammanthurai, a town southwest of Kalmunai, police confiscated suicide vests, explosives, a drone and a flag featuring the insignia of the Islamic State terrorist group, which claims its militants were behind the attacks on Easter Sunday.

A Sri Lankan catholic priest stands near broken glass in front St. Anthony's Church in Colombo. Credit:AP Police said they found 100,000 ball bearings, usually used to intensify the impact of an explosion. A large number of security forces have been moved into the area for house-to-house search operations. In the capital Colombo, police arrested three men whom they found in possession of a kilogram of explosives near a railway station. Police have warned of the risk of further attacks, specifically on religious targets.

Sri Lankan Muslims talk and pray before the start of Friday prayers inside a mosque, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Authorities had told Muslims to pray at home rather than attend communal Friday prayers. Credit:AP Churches in the capital remained closed, with Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, telling a news conference that Sunday Masses in the city would be canceled until further notice. The government has decided to delay re-opening schools until May 6 after the were initially scheduled to open after a vacation on April 23. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Most businesses closed earlier than usual on Friday while attendance at public offices has dropped by 50%.

The suicide attacks on three churches and three luxury tourist hotels on Easter Sunday left 253 dead, according to the health ministry, a number revised downward from an earlier police figure of 359 dead. A Sri Lankan police commando enters a house suspected to be a hideout of militants following a shoot out in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Sunday. Credit:AP In Washington, the State Department said Friday it has ordered the departure of all school-age family members of US government employees from Sri Lanka, and it advised US citizens to reconsider travel to the country, Reuters reported. On Thursday, the Australian government warned its citizens to "reconsider" their need to travel to Sri Lanka. Britain has done the same. Sri Lanka's president said on Friday that intelligence failings allowed the devastating Easter attacks to take place and that a major reorganisation of the security services would occur in the coming days.

Speaking at his residence to local media executives, President Maithripala Sirisena said the national police chief and defence secretary had both been warned about the attacks but did not inform him. Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and police chief Pujith Jayasundara resigned this week at Sirisena's request. "They did not say a word about this warning letter. It was a serious lapse on their part and shirk of responsibility," he said. The president spoke as Sri Lankans remained on edge and security forces fanned across the country. Muslim and Christian religious services were cancelled or held under tight security amid police warnings of possible further attacks after multiple suicide bombings on Easter Sunday that killed at least 250 people at churches and hotels. Sirisena criticised the police for failing to act on intelligence provided by a foreign ally, widely reported to be India, several weeks before the blasts, warning that an Islamist extremist group in Sri Lanka, National Thowheeth Jamaath, was planning an attack. He also confirmed that Zahran Hashim, a rabble-rousing Sunni extremist and Sri Lankan native identified as the mastermind of the attacks, was killed in one blast at the waterfront Shangri-La Hotel here. The Islamic State has asserted responsibility for the attacks, but its actual involvement remains unclear.

A bird flies over St. Sebastian's Church, where a suicide bomber blew himself up on Easter Sunday in Negombo, north of Colombo. Credit:AP Sirisena said that 70 of 140 people with suspected ties to the Middle East-based, Sunni terrorist group have been arrested so far and that those still at large are feared to be in possession of explosives. Sri Lankan police officials circulated a letter among security forces Thursday saying there were threats of new attacks, especially against some Muslim religious sites. The president said strict new measures would be taken to identify and track people, similar to those used during the lengthy civil war between separatist ethnic Tamils and the government that ended in 2009. "Every household in the country will be checked," he said, and lists of all residents made to "ensure that no unknown person can live anywhere." "We had to declare an emergency situation to suppress terrorists and ensure a peaceful environment in the country," the president said. Police are looking in particular for former soldier Bathrudeen Mohammed Mohideen, known as Army Mohideen, who they say helped train the nine suicide bombers. Investigations show the bombers were mostly well-educated and from affluent backgrounds.

Under tight security, mosques across Colombo held Friday prayer services, and thousands attended, despite an appeal by Muslim government officials for them to stay home as a security precaution. The Catholic archbishop of Colombo also announced Friday that there would be no Sunday Masses until further notice. About 10,000 soldiers were deployed across the country to carry out searches and protect places of worship this weekend. Since the Easter attacks, bomb disposal units have blown up several packages and motorbikes deemed suspicious. The US Embassy in Colombo also urged American citizens to avoid places of worship over the coming weekend. At Colombo's 100-year-old Jami ul-Alfar Mosque, a towering structure of red and white turrets, worshippers and their belongings were searched at the entrance. Security forces cordoned off the surrounding blocks and mosque volunteers politely asked outsiders to stay at a distance. "I wanted to come to say my prayers for all the victims of this terrible killing, that God should welcome them in heaven," said Nizam Wellampitia, 81, a white-bearded cloth seller. "Both Jesus and our prophet said we should never harm others. We do not even like to kill a bird - the people who did this are brainwashed, and they will go to hell." "This is a nightmare for all of us," said Mohammad Neqab, 25, who sells sewing supplies nearby. "Our history as Sri Lankans is one of harmony, and we need unity more than ever now."

One mosque aide, Mohammad Zuhair, said that the National Thowheed Jamaath had been a presence in the area for some time, spreading fundamentalist views, but that a new and more dangerous group had splintered off from it, possibly with foreign support. "Nobody trusted that new wing." MCT, AP, Washington Post