The Sri Lankan Defense Ministry has imposed a nightly curfew following the eight explosions that killed around 160 people and injured as many as 400 on Easter Sunday.

In a statement for the media, State Minister of Defense Ruwan Wijewardene said the curfew will remain in place “until things settle down.” He said the culprits of the attacks on Sri Lankan hotels and churches “have been identified” and will be taken into custody. He did not name those responsible, however.

The use of social media has been temporarily banned as part of the curfew, according to Harsha de Silva, the minister of economic reforms and public distribution. Locals are required to stay indoors for 12 hours – from 6pm to 6am.

Six initial explosions that rocked three churches and three hotels reportedly killed 156 people and injured some 400, media reported, citing police. The blasts struck on Easter Sunday, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ.

Most of the targets are located in or near Colombo, Sri Lanka’s largest city and commercial capital. Shortly afterwards, two more explosions were reported, one of them killing two more people. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the apparently coordinated bombings.

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The Sri Lankan PM called for strength and unity, and warned against the dissemination of fake reports, after explosions rocked several five-star hotels and Catholic churches, killing more than 160 people and injuring hundreds.

“I strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today. I call upon all Sri Lankans during this tragic time to remain united and strong,” Ranil Wickremesinghe wrote on Twitter shortly after the attack on Sunday morning.

He said that officials are taking steps to “contain the situation,” and urged people not to spread “unverified reports and speculation.”

Three luxury hotels and three churches were targeted by explosions as worshipers gathered for Easter Sunday Masses.

The nation’s president Maithripala Sirisena said that the government has launched an investigation into the attacks. Sri Lankan Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, meanwhile, called the attacks “a well-coordinated attempt to create murder, mayhem and anarchy.”

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Three more people have died in a new explosion in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s largest city, shortly after some 160 people lost their lives in seven blasts that hit luxury hotels and Catholic churches during Easter celebrations.

A suicide bomber killed three people in central Colombo, AFP reported, citing police.

This adds to the seven explosions that have rocked three packed Catholic shrines and four high-end hotels in Sri Lanka so far on Sunday, as the island’s Christian worshippers were gathering for Easter masses.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the apparently coordinated attacks. Sri Lanka’s defense ministry has declared a curfew, which is set to last from 6pm to 6am.

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Indian intelligence agencies have reportedly raised the alarm level in Jammu and Kashmir warning that suicide bombers could use motorcycles to stage attacks in the Indian state during the ongoing general election.

“The fidayeen [suicide] attackers could be riding a motorcycle with explosive-filled bags fitted on both sides,” intelligence agencies reportedly warned regional authorities, according to local media. “The two-wheeler could prove to be more maneuverable and easier to reach any target.”

The terrorists could seek to strike campaign events and polling stations as millions take part in India’s complicated election process, which started last week and will end on May 19.

Security forces in India’s troubled border state with Pakistan are instructed to “keep extra vigil and alertness” for possible strikes by the Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), members of which, intelligence agencies believe, are holed up in North Kashmir in large numbers.

Earlier, Indian forces reportedly discovered a stockpile of weapons and ammunition with Chinese markings in Kashmir, which has remained extraordinarily tense ever since the February 14 Pulwama suicide bombing in which 40 Indian paramilitary police were killed.

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Photos and videos circulating on social media depict gruesome scenes as disoriented worshipers try to help the wounded after a bomb went off in a packed Catholic church during Easter Sunday Mass in Sri Lanka.

Photos posted by St. Sebastian Church in the Catholic-majority town of Negombo, outside Colombo, show bloodied worshipers struggling to help the wounded after a blast hit the building. Several bodies can be seen lying on the floor alongside rubble. Windows have been shattered and the walls are riddled with what appears to be shrapnel from the bomb. The roof is heavily damaged as well.

When the bomb went off, the church was packed with worshipers who had gathered to celebrate Easter Sunday Mass. A video from the scene shows that children were present during the tragedy.

Two other churches were hit by blasts on Sunday, and three luxury hotels were also targeted. More than 150 people were killed in the attacks, and hundreds were injured, police say. Of those, more than 50 are believed to have been killed at St. Sebastian’s Church.

Photos from one of the hotels show several bodies covered by blood-stained white cloths.

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Just 10 days before explosions at six churches and hotels in Sri Lanka claimed some 160 lives, the national police chief reportedly sent an alert about a radical Islamist group planning bomb attacks on prominent churches.

The alert was sent by Pujuth Jayasundara on April 11, AFP reported. It said that Sri Lankan authorities had received a tip from a foreign intelligence service, warning of bomb threat posed by a radical group.

“A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian High Commission in Colombo,” the alert said, as quoted by the news agency.

The bombings at three Christian churches and three luxury hotels happened on Easter Sunday, just as churchgoers were converging to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The apparently coordinated attacks claimed at least 160 lives and injured hundreds, according to the latest reports, with the death toll expected to rise. No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the Easter bombings.

The NTJ is a radical Islamist group based in Sri Lanka, which came to prominence last year after vandalizing Buddhist statues.

Sri Lanka is a predominantly Buddhist nation, with some 70 percent of its population of 22 million following the faith. Muslims are the third-largest denomination after the Hindu, with less than 10 percent of Sri Lankans subscribing to Islam. Christianity is the fourth-largest religion, adherents of which compose some 7.6 percent of the population, according to the 2012 national census.

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Some of Russia’s best opera singers banded together to record a heartwarming musical message of support to the people of France grieving the disastrous fire at Notre Dame de Paris.

Singers from the Bolshoi Theatre, the Mariinsky, the Novaya Opera and other leading theaters in Russia recorded their rendering of Schubert’s Ave Maria in wake of the disaster at France’s Gothic jewel. The country nearly lost its most-visited national treasure this week, after the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral’s roof and spire were devastated by a massive blaze.

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The leader of Pakistan joined international condemnation of the series of bombing attacks, which targeted Sri Lanka’s churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said his nation was standing “in complete solidarity with Sri Lanka in their hour of grief.”

‏Earlier, the spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry extended condolences to Sri Lanka following the bombings, which claimed scores of lives and left hundreds injured.

Three prominent Christian churches and three luxury hotels were bombed on Sunday in a series of apparently coordinated attacks. No group immediately claimed responsibility for it. The bloodshed was condemned by Sri Lankan officials and international dignitaries.

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Steering a vessel in the open sea may sound like an impossible task for a blind person, but 52-year-old Mitsuhiro Iwamoto has proven otherwise by completing an impressive non-stop journey across the Pacific.

The Japanese-born sailor who now resides in San Diego reached the port of Fukushima in his 40-foot (12-meter) cutter on Saturday morning – almost two months after he left California. Iwamoto was joined by his friend, a sighted US native Doug Smith, as both men shared the ship’s steering, rigging and navigating duties.

The sailor could not conceal his delight as the ‘Dream Weaver’ boat was greeted in Fukushima after the 14,000 km journey. “I didn’t give up and I made a dream come true. I’m the happiest person on Earth,” Iwamoto said, according to local media.

Iwamoto had every reason to enjoy the moment as his previous attempt back in 2013 failed when a whale hit the vessel off the Japanese coast. The brave traveler may well make his way into the record books as he is apparently the first-ever blind person to cross the Pacific, local media report.

He faced total blindness at the age of 16 but managed to battle his subsequent depression and began to engage in competitive sailing and running. The athlete’s website lists him as participant in the 2012 US Disabled Sailing Championship and the 2012 San Diego Half Marathon.

With his Transpacific journey dubbed the “Voyage of Inspiration,” Iwamoto intends to raise money for those suffering from vision impairment and to “send a message that anything is possible when people come together.”

Israel has the full arsenal needed to take on Hezbollah in Lebanon and eliminate the Iranian threat in Syria, the outgoing IDF Northern Command chief boasted, warning Damascus against using S-300s to protect its sovereignty.

“If our freedom of movement is threatened, we will remove the threat. We know how to do that,” General Yoel Strick told Ynet News, adding that Israel will soon introduce “advanced weapons systems” to ensure it can continue to violate neighboring states’ airspace and to strike targets in Syria with impunity.

While acknowledging that such a drastic move might damage Tel Aviv’s relations with Moscow, Strick expressed hope that it wouldn’t come to that. Moscow had supplied the Arab Republic with S-300 air defense systems following the downing of a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane with 15 airmen on board in mid-September, during an Israeli raid.

Moscow also warned Israel that it will suppress all satellite navigation, radars and communications systems of combat planes over the Mediterranean Sea if their maneuvers threaten Russian forces. Since then, Israel has been staging its intrusions via Lebanon, where the Jewish State is trying to keep Hezbollah in check.

Hezbollah is inseparable from Lebanon as a country, due to the militant group’s strong political presence, the general argued. Thus, he claimed, “if it were up to me, I would recommend declaring war on Lebanon and Hezbollah” – not out of bloodlust but only to thwart the group’s alleged plot to “invade” Israel.

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