{"id":311540,"date":"2019-04-21T06:28:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-21T06:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=311540"},"modified":"2019-04-21T13:44:19","modified_gmt":"2019-04-21T13:44:19","slug":"207-killed-several-injured-in-multiple-explosions-in-sri-lankas-churches-hotels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/207-killed-several-injured-in-multiple-explosions-in-sri-lankas-churches-hotels\/","title":{"rendered":"207 killed, several injured in multiple explosions in Sri Lanka\u2019s churches, hotels"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-311541 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/blast-srilanks-300x216.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"506\" height=\"364\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/04\/blast-srilanks-300x216.jpg 300w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/04\/blast-srilanks-768x552.jpg 768w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/04\/blast-srilanks-696x501.jpg 696w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/04\/blast-srilanks-584x420.jpg 584w, https:\/\/tehelka.com\/media\/2019\/04\/blast-srilanks.jpg 791w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 506px) 100vw, 506px\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">At least 52 people were killed and hundreds injured after multiple explosions hit three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The first explosions were reported at St Anthony\u2019s Church in Colombo and St Sebastian\u2019s Church in the western coastal town of Negombo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Shortly after those blasts were reported, police confirmed four other blasts. Three of those were at hotels while another was reported from a church in the town of Batticaloa, in the east of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The Indian diaspora in Sri Lanka has issued helpline numbers for Indian citizens seeking help and clarification.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">\u201cExplosions have been reported in Colombo and Batticaloa today. We are closely monitoring the situation. Indian citizens in need of assistance or help and for seeking clarification may call the following numbers: +94777903082 +94112422788 +94112422789,\u201d High Commission of India in Sri Lanka tweeted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The tweet further reads, \u201cIn addition to the numbers given below, Indian citizens in need of assistance or help and for seeking clarification may also call the following numbers +94777902082 +94772234176.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj said that she is in touch with the Indian High Commission in Colombo and they are monitoring the situation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">\u201cColombo &#8211; I am in constant touch with Indian High Commissioner in Colombo. We are keeping a close watch on the situation,\u201d Swaraj tweeted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">St. Sebastian&#8217;s church at Katuwapitiya in Negombo posted pictures of destruction inside the church on its Facebook page.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">No group or individual has claimed the responsibility for the attack yet.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At least 52 people were killed and hundreds injured after multiple explosions hit three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday. The first explosions were reported at St Anthony\u2019s Church in Colombo and St Sebastian\u2019s Church in the western coastal town of Negombo. Shortly after those blasts were reported, police confirmed four other [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":311541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53],"tags":[4881],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311540"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311540"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311549,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311540\/revisions\/311549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/311541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}