Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has condemned the series of deadly explosions that rocked several Sri Lankan Catholic churches and five-star hotels on Sunday. The attacks claimed more than 150 lives.

“Strongly condemn the horrific blasts in Sri Lanka. There is no place for such barbarism in our region,” Modi wrote on Twitter, adding that India stands in solidarity with the Sri Lankan people.

The blasts happened in three packed Catholic churches just as worshipers were attending Easter Sunday Masses. Three luxury hotels were also targeted in what is believed to be a series of coordinated attacks. More than 150 people were killed during the blasts, and hundreds were injured, police say.

India and Sri Lanka enjoy strong historic and cultural ties. India is home to around 70 million Tamil people, while the island of Sri Lanka has a sizeable Tamil minority. In 1987-1990, India deployed a peacekeeping force in Sri Lanka during a long-lasting conflict between Tamil insurgents and the central government.

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A new explosion has been reported in Sri Lanka, following six blasts in churches and hotels earlier on Sunday, according to police. It hit in the Dehiwala suburb of Colombo, killing two people.

The seventh explosion took place near a zoo, a police official told Reuters.

At least 156 people were killed and some 400 injured in the six explosions that struck places of Christian worship and high-end hotels across Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. The targets, three churches and three hotels, were mostly concentrated in and around the commercial capital Colombo, except for one church located on the opposite side of the island in Batticaloa. No group has claimed responsibility so far.

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Three churches and three hotels were hit by devastating bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. Over 160 people were reportedly killed in the blast.

The churches are located in three locations on different sides of the island: St. Anthony’s Church in its commercial capital Colombo and St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo on the western coast, and the Zion Church in Batticaloa in the east.

The explosions hit as Easter Sunday services were being held, with over 50 people killed in St. Sebastian’s alone, according to a police official cited by Reuters. Over 25 people were reportedly killed in Batticaloa.

All three hotels are located in Colombo, one of them – Cinnamon Grand – about 200 meters from the prime minister’s residence, and the other two not much further away.

Foreign tourists are reportedly among the victims. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has condemned the bombings as “cowardly attacks.”

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned the bombing attacks on Christian churches and hotels in Sri Lanka, which happened during the celebration of Easter.

Erdogan offered Turkey’s condolences to the families of victims and a speedy recovery to the hundreds of people who were injured by Sunday’s bombings.

Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu compared the attacks to the recent shooting in New Zealand, in which a white nationalist gunned downed 50 people at two mosques in the city of Christchurch.

An increasing number of international officials have joined in condemning the bloodiest act of violence that Sri Lanka has since the end of its civil war a decade ago. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, which claimed over 150 lives and resulted in the hospitalization of at least 400.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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