Suicide Bombings in Sri Lanka: ‘A river of blood’

Soldiers shut down roads across Sri Lanka, social media platforms were blocked and a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed after a series of coordinated bombings ripped across the country on Easter Sunday at Roman Catholic churches and at high-end hotels frequented by foreigners.

Nearly 300 people were killed and hundreds more injured. At least 27 of the dead were foreigners, including American, British, Chinese, Dutch and Portuguese nationals, according to officials and news reports.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility. But 10 days earlier, a top police official had warned government security officials of possible suicide attacks at churches by National Thowheeth Jama’at, a group that aims to spread Islamic terrorist ideology. The police have arrested 24 people in connection with the bombings.

See: We have photographs and video of the aftermath.

Social media: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and the messaging services Viber and WhatsApp were inaccessible. A government official said the platforms were blocked to prevent the spread of misinformation about the attacks and hate speech that could inspire more violence.