Sri Lanka bombings: Death toll rises to 290

Sri Lanka is reeling from the worst spate of violence since its civil war ended a decade ago. A series of bomb attacks on Sunday at hotels and churches across the country killed hundreds and injured many more.

The number of people killed in Sunday's bomb attacks across Sri Lanka has risen to 290 and the number of wounded to more than 500, police said Monday.

The attacks, which targeted Christian churches and hotels popular with foreigners, amounted to the deadliest violence to hit Sri Lanka since a civil war ended 10 years ago.

No one has yet claimed responsibility, but police said they had arrested 13 Sri Lankan citizens in connection with the blasts.

First investigations have indicated that suicide bombers carried out at least three of the attacks.

Curfew lifted

Earlier on Monday, authorities lifted an overnight curfew and said that they had defused an improved bomb at the international airport in the capital, Colombo.

Officials will look into possible intelligence failures, the government said, amid reports that security services ignored warnings of an imminent attack against churches.

The attacks have raised fears of a resurgence of the communal violence that has often plagued the island. Police reported late on Sunday that a mosque in the northwest had suffered a petrol-bomb attack and that two Muslim-owned shops in the west were targeted by arsonists.

At least 27 foreigners, including citizens from the United States, Japan and India, died in the blasts.

Germany's Foreign Ministry said it was "working urgently" to find out if any German citizens were killed or wounded.