2 dead in fresh blast at hotel near Zoo in Sri Lanka’s Dehiwela

An explosion has been reported near Sri Lanka’s Dehiwela zoo. Two people have been killed in the blast so far. The victims of the incident have been rushed to the Kalubowila Teaching Hospital in order to receive treatment, local media reported. The Zoo has been closed following the explosion, Dammika Malsinghe, Director General of the Dehiwela Zoological Garden said.

Earlier, 165 people were killed and over 450 others injured as multiple blasts hit churches in Sri Lanka during Easter services on Sunday. 35 foreigners have also been reported dead in the attack. The first blast was reported from St Anthony’s Church in Kochcikade, Colombo, and the second from St. Sebastian’s Church at Katuwapitiya in Negombo. The blasts occurred at around 8.45 a.m. (local time) as the Easter Sunday masses were in progress in churches. Three explosions were reported from the five-star hotels, the Shangrila, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury. This is one of the deadliest terror attack in the history of Sri Lanka on minority catholic community.

So far, no group has claimed the responsibility for one of the deadliest attack in the history of Sri Lanka. However, most of the deadly attacks in the past in Sri Lanka were carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has appealed people to remain calm and said that security forces were investigating the attacks. "I have been shocked by this totally unexpected incidents. The security forces haven been asked to take all action necessary," Sirisena said.