Authorities blame the difficulty in identifying body parts at bomb scenes for the earlier inaccurate number.
Sri Lankan officials revised the death toll from Easter Sunday bombings down by about 100 on Thursday, blaming the difficulty in identifying body parts at bomb scenes for the earlier inaccurate number.
Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando resigned over the failure to prevent the attacks, although he insisted on Thursday that the authorities had been acting in response to intelligence tips from India warning of imminent attacks.. He said he had resigned to take responsibility for institutions he ran, but said there had been no failure on his part.
They included British, US, Australian, Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese nationals. About 500 people were wounded. Britain on Thursday warned its nationals to avoid the country unless it was absolutely necessary as there could be more attacks.The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
A picture has emerged of a group of nine well-educated, home-grown suicide bombers. Two were brothers, sons of a wealthy spice trader, a source close to the family said. Fears that more bombers are at large has kept Sri Lanka on edge all week. Authorities locked down the central bank and shut the road to the capital’s airport for part of the day because of bomb scares as communal tension simmered.
Sri Lanka’s 22 million people include minority Christians, Muslims and Hindus. Until now, Christians had largely managed to avoid the worst of the island’s conflict and communal tensions.
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