Sri Lanka bombings death toll climbs to 310

• A total of eight blasts struck the South Asian island country on Sunday.
  
• A ninth bomb was reportedly diffused near the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport on late Sunday.
  
• At least ten Indians among those killed.

The Easter Sunday serial blasts in Sri Lanka have now claimed at least 310 lives, according to the Sri Lankan authorities. A ninth bomb was reportedly diffused near the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport, near the south-eastern coast, on late Sunday that had explosives inside a pipe.

Sri Lankan authorities have arrested about 26 suspects as of Tuesday, although no group has so far come forward claiming responsibility for the coordinated attacks.

Several news agencies have reported earlier that 500 people were injured. The death toll has climbed from the previous estimate of just over 200 as more fatalities were discovered, with many critically injured succumbing to their injuries.

A total of eight blasts struck the South Asian island country, targeting churches and high-end hotels.

“Location of targets & ability to carry out multiple attacks almost simultaneously indicative of high level of perpetrator confidence and competence. Scale of death and injury is huge. Southern Asia differently blighted in collective inability to quarantine terror,” according to strategic affairs expert C Uday Bhaskar.

The Sri Lankan government appealed for calm and imposed a curfew, which was lifted earlier on Monday. Access to several social media and messaging services was also cut off in the aftermath of the blasts.

At least five Indians, among at least 30 foreigners, were killed in the blasts, which is one of the deadliest attacks in the country since the end of a prolonged civil war over a decade ago.

With agencies