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Reuters reported a further blast happened near St Anthony's shrine in the Kochchikade district of Colombo on Monday, a day after a series of suicide bombers targeted churches and high-end hotels in the island nation. Officials are carrying out searches to find those behind the attacks. The 87 "low-explosive detonators" were found at the main bus station - Bastian Mawatha Private station - in Pettah, a neighbourhood in the east of the centre of the capital, a government spokesman said.

The latest explosion occured in a van near a church in the distric of Kochchikade as security officials were working to defuse an explosive they had recently stumbled upon. The bomb squad were focused on an area which was among the places where scores of people were killed in attacks on Easter Sunday. One witness told Reuters: "The van exploded when the bomb defusing unit of the STF (Special Task Force) and air force tried to diffuse the bomb." The country's president is set to implement a national emergency at midnight on Monday.

A fresh blast has hit Colombo a day after 290 were killed in suicide bombings

Monday's explosion happened when a bomb squad tried to detonate a device near St Anthony's Shrine

The device was found in a van parked outside St Anthony's Shrine

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said area around the shrine was clear of civilians when the van was being examined. The vehicle is believed to have been used by those who carried out the attack on St Anthony’s Shrine on Sunday. One reporter on the ground said there was "chaos" when it went off and poeple "responded in hysteria". Thie state of emergency will give police and the military more powers to detain and interrogate people without court orders. President Maithripala Sirisena is seeking assistance from foreign powers to trace international links to the seven blasts which killed 290 and injured more than 500 people.

The destroyed van was pictured on Sri Lankan state TV

Dozens of bomb detonators have been found in Colombo after the deadly suicide attacks

Sri Lankan soldiers stand guard outside St Anthony's shrine after the deadly blasts on Easter Sunday