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A series of bombings that killed 290 people in Sri Lanka Sunday was conducted with the support of an international network, officials said.
The government has blamed a little known local jihadist group, the national Thowheed Jamath, although no one has yet confessed to carrying out the bombings.
500 people were injured in suicide attacks on churches and hotels.
Police arrested 24 people during a series of raids and the president's office declared the state of national emergency.
The emergency declaration, which will come into effect at midnight on Monday (18.30 GMT), will give the police and the army extensive powers to detain and interrogate suspects without a court order. .
On Monday, another blast rocked a street near a church in the capital, Colombo. The police were trying to defuse explosives in a vehicle used by the attackers when it exploded. It is not known yet if anyone was injured.
The Sri Lankan authorities were warned two weeks before the bombings launched by the national Thowheed Jamath, said a spokeswoman for the cabinet, Rajitha Senaratne, at a press conference.
He added that the warnings had not been pbaded on to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe or his cabinet. Mr. Wickremesinghe acknowledged that the security services were "aware of the information" but had not acted in the light of the information.
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Another explosion took place near St Anthony's Shrine on Monday
Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando told the BBC that intelligence services "never said it would be an attack of this magnitude".
"They were talking about isolation, one or two incidents, it is not like that," he said.
He added that "all the important police departments" had been informed of the warning but had acknowledged that no action had been taken.
Suspicion ofnternational support
Senaratne said the authorities believed that bombers had international support. "We do not believe that these attacks were perpetrated by a group of people confined in this country," he said, adding: "There was an international network without which these attacks would not have succeeded ".
A subsequent statement announced that President Maithripala Sirisena would ask for foreign aid to find international links with the attackers.
"Intelligence reports [indicate] that foreign terrorist organizations are behind local terrorists. Therefore, the president must seek help from foreign countries, "said his office.
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There were emotional scenes outside St Anthony's Sanctuary in Colombo
A curfew will be imposed from 20:00 to 14:00 Tuesday, announced the government. A day of national mourning is scheduled for Tuesday.
The National Security Council of Sri Lanka has declared that a "conditionally urgent state" from midnight would target "terrorism" and not limit freedom of expression.
In another development, the US State Department issued a revised travel advisory calling for more caution, adding: "Terrorist groups continue to prepare attacks in Sri Lanka."
How did the attacks take place?
The first explosions were reported around 8:45 am local time, and six explosions were reported in a short time.
Three churches in Negombo, Batticaloa and the Kochchikade district of Colombo were targeted during Easter services. The explosions also rocked the Shangri-La, Kingsbury and Cinnamon Grand hotels in the capital.
The police did not reveal the number of people killed and wounded in each location.
All attacks were perpetrated by suicide bombers, officials said.
The police then raided two addresses and explosions occurred. One was in Dehiwala, south of Colombo, and the other near Dematagoda district in which three officers were killed.
An improvised explosive device – one meter long [1.8m] plastic pipe filled with explosives – was also found and defused near Colombo airport.
The police also recovered 87 low-explosive detonators at Bastian Mawatha's private bus station in Pettah, our correspondent reported.
What do we know about attackers?
There was swirling speculation about who might be behind the attacks and the government has limited access to social media in the aftermath of the bombings.
National Thowheed Jamath was later named by a government spokesman as the main suspect.
The group has no history of large scale attacks, but it became famous last year when it was accused of having damaged Buddhist statues.
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Addressing reports that officials had previously had information about future attacks, Wickremesinghe said: "We need to examine why adequate precautions have not been taken. ministers were kept informed. "
Who are the victims?
The vast majority of those killed are believed to be Sri Lankans, including dozens of Christians who died during Easter services.
The Foreign Ministry said 35 foreign nationals are among the dead.
Among them, three children of Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, a spokesman for the family confirmed at the BBC. Mr. Povlsen is the owner of the Bestseller clothing chain and holds a majority stake in the apparel giant Asos.
Other international victims include:
- At least eight Columbia citizens – two of whom with common US citizenship
- A Portuguese citizen and six Indian citizens
- Two engineers from turkey, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu
- Two Chinese Chinese nationals, according to the China Daily
- Two AustraliansSaid Prime Minister Scott Morrison
- A person from Netherlands
- A person from Japan, according to Japanese media citing government sources
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What is the recent history of Sri Lanka?
Sunday's attacks were the deadliest in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war in the country in 2009.
The war ended with the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, who had been fighting for 26 years for an independent homeland for the Tamil minority.
It is estimated that between 70,000 and 80,000 people died in the conflict.
The nation has experienced sporadic violence since. In March 2018, the state of emergency was declared after the attack on mosques and Muslim-owned properties by members of the Sinhalese Buddhist community.
- Country profile Sri Lanka
Religion in Sri Lanka
Theravada Buddhism is Sri Lanka's largest religious group, accounting for about 70.2% of the population, according to the latest census.
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Christians are a small minority in Sri Lanka
It is the religion of Sri Lankan majority Sinhala and it occupies a prime place in the laws of the country.
Hindus and Muslims account respectively for 12.6% and 9.7% of the population.
According to the 2012 census, Sri Lanka has about 1.5 million Christians, the vast majority of whom are Catholic.
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