Sri Lankan housewife Fathima Fazla thought of her neighbors in the grand three-storey home across the street as the wealthy celebrities of her humble Colombo suburb. She had no idea how infamous they would become.

The entire government would have resigned if a disaster like the Easter Sunday carnage had happened in any other country, but such things would never happen in Sri Lanka, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka told Parliament, yesterday.

Army Commander Lt. General Mahesh Senanayake said a large scale islandwide operation has begun in search of members of the extremist terrorist group involved in Sunday’s bomb blasts.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that the use of all drones and unmanned aircraft within Sri Lankan airspace has been prohibited until further notice.

Emergency Regulations have been passed without a vote in the parliament a short while ago.

The police curfew will be imposed across the island from 10.00 pm tonight to 4.00 am tomorrow, the government announced today.

President Maithripala Sirisena has requested the Secretary of Defence Hemasiri Fernando and Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara to resign immediately.

Britain has sent a team of counter-terrorism police to Sri Lanka after the deadly bombing attacks that killed at least 359 people, including eight Britons, on Easter Sunday.

A suspicious parcel which had been left unattended at a restaurant in Thimbirigaskatuwa, Katana has been destroyed though a controlled explosion, the Police Spokesman said.

The MailOnline website of the Daily Mail has published images of the factory allegedly where the Easter Sunday attacks were masterminded and where the suicide bombs are believed to have been built.

According to the police, steps have been taken to examine a motorbike which was parked in close proximity to the Savoy Cinema.

The death toll from the Easter suicide bombings in Sri Lanka rose to 359 and more suspects have been arrested, police said Wednesday.

Minister of Health Dr. Rajitha Senaratna said that despite the international intelligence services having informed the country’s security network of possible terror attacks, targeting Christian, Catholic Churches and five-star hotels before 21 April and 10 minutes even before the attacks, failure to take preventive measures by those concerned, had been a grave mistake.

Eighteen suspects have been arrested by the Police Special Task Force in search operations carried out last night.

Isis has released a picture claiming to show the mastermind behind the Easter Sunday bomb massacre in Sri Lanka, that killed 321 people.

India is helping Sri Lanka probe the attacks with “technical and intelligence” support, and Indian security agencies are watching a Tamil Naidu-based cleric, The Hindustan Times quoted officials as having said.