The death toll from the April 21 Easter Sunday terror attacks increased to 310 by April 23 (today) morning with 500 people have been injured, Police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said, reports Daily Mirror. At least 307 civilians and three Security Forces (SFs) were among the dead. Additionally, seven suicide bombers were also killed in the series of coordinated attacks on April 21. Earlier, SATP had reported that at least 207 persons were killed and over 450 persons were injured in a series of coordinated bomb blasts at churches and luxury hotels in the country on April 21.
Sri Lankan Police said that 24 suspects were arrested so far in connection with the series of explosions that rocked the country on April 21, reports Colombo Page. The suspects are being detained in the custody of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and interrogated.
Meanwhile, a Sri Lankan court on April 22 remanded nine of the 24 suspects arrested over the Easter Day attacks until May 6, reports Colombo Page. Colombo Additional Magistrate Channa Saliya Abeyratne remanded the suspects were produced before the Colombo Magistrate's Court. Wellampitiya Police, presenting its report in the investigations, told the court that a factory belonging to the suicide bomber who attacked the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo and the two women who died in the suicide bomb explosion at a Dematagoda house was found in Wellampitiya area. The Police further said that the suspects have been employed at bomber's factory and that investigations are proceeding to uncover if the suspects are acquainted with the suicide bombers. The two women who died in the explosion at Dematagoda are revealed to be the wife and the sister of the suicide bomber at the Shangri-La hotel, the Police further told the court. The suspects reportedly include seven Muslims, one Sinhalese and one Tamil.
Separately, a stock of explosives was unearthed in a homestead of a resident at Erukkalampitti in Ouluthuduwai in Mannar District of Northern Province by the Police on April 22, reports The Island. The landowner, while cleaning his garden, noticed the stock of explosives and informed the Police. The explosives had been hidden in a plastic barrel buried in the garden, Police said.
Also, one of the suspects of Easter Sunday attacks in Colombo had written a letter to his mother asking for her forgiveness before killing himself inside a house in Mahawila Gardens Dematagoda on April 21, a senior official of the Colombo Crimes Division said, reports The Island. "We found the letter when we searched the house. He had written that he had carried out the attack in the name of his religion."