The death toll in Sri Lanka rises to 359 and the authorities remain vigilant against "more attacks"

The number of deaths in the series of attacks of the Resurrection against churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka climbed today to 359, Official sources said today they have revealed their suspicions "new attacks" can be committed on the island.

"There could be more attacks, we must be vigilant right now, we will have the situation under control in the coming days", said the Deputy Minister of Defense of Sri Lanka, Ruwan Wijewardene, at a press conference with foreign journalists.

According to the spokesperson,According to reports, the attacks last Sunday were allegedly committed by at least nine suicide bombers. who immolated himself with explosives killing hundreds of people.

"Many of them have studied in other countries, with university degrees and advanced degrees that indicated that it was well educated people."said the deputy minister, although he did not specify the nationality of all involved, said that One of them has studied in the United Kingdom and Australia.

"We are looking for connections with all the neighboring countries", he said.

The government said the attacks were perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists, apparently in retaliation for the mbadacre at two mosques in New Zealand last month. but he said the suicide bombers were Sri Lankans. The Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, He noted that researchers are still working to determine the extent of authors' links abroad.

Until the moment, 60 people of Syrian origin were arrested in connection with the attackssaid Wijewardene who declined to answer questions regarding the alleged detention of a suspect with a Syrian pbadport.

The Islamic State news agency Aamaq, distributed an image that supposedly showed the leader of the attackers, standing among seven other people with covered faces. TheThe radical militia has provided no other evidence to support his request., and the identities of people who appear in the picture can not be independently verified.

According to the latest badessment, offered today by the Deputy Minister, the number of deaths increased from 321 to 359 in the last 24 hourss, 39 of them foreigners, after the death of several of the 500 victims.

The series of attacks committed Sunday in Sri Lanka began with six almost simultaneous explosions in three luxury hotels in Colombo and also in one church in the capital, another in Katana, in the west of the country, and the third in the eastern city of Batticaloa.

A few hours later, a seventh detonation took place in a small hotel located about a dozen kilometers south of the capital and the last in a residential complex of Dematagoda, also in Colombo.

The president of the country, Maithripala Sirisena, announced a the restructuring concerns the next hours of the intelligence services, the police and the armed forcesAfter being informed that they had received information about the attacks a few hours before their commission, they did not warn the government.

Attacks of this magnitude have not occurred in Sri Lanka since the civil war between Tamil guerrillas and the government, a conflict that lasted 26 years and ended in 2009 and left, according to the UN, more than 40,000 civilians killed.

(With information from EFE and AP)