At least 156 people have been killed in a string of attacks targeting three churches and three hotels in Sri Lanka on Sunday, a police source told AFP.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesimenge condemned Twitter´s "cowardly attacks" in his Twitter account, while authorities have so far counted 45 dead, including nine foreigners in Colombo, 67 in Negombo to the north and 25 in Batticaloa in the east.
Two explosions took place at St. Anthony´s Church in Colombo and St. Sebastian Church in Negombo town north of the capital.
Police said six sites had seen explosions, including three luxury hotels, and a church in the capital.
At least one person was killed at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel near the prime minister´s official residence in Colombo, a hotel official told AFP, adding that the blast took place in a restaurant.
In addition to the Negombo church, a third church in Batticaloa (east) was targeted, and a local hospital official said 300 people were wounded.
"An attack on our church, we hope you will come to help us if your family is there," said an English appeal published by the Church of St. Sebastian in Negombo on its Facebook page.
The predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka has a Catholic minority of 1.2 million out of a total population of 21 million.
Buddhists make up 70 percent of Sri Lanka´s population, 12 percent of Hindus, 10 percent of Muslims and 7 percent of Christians.
The Catholics are a unified force in this country, divided between Tamils ​​and Sinhalese majority.
Some Christians, however, face hostility in support of foreign investigations into crimes committed by the Sri Lankan army against Tamils ​​during the civil war that ended in 2009.
The conflict between 1972 and 2009 left between 80,000 and 100,000 people dead, according to the United Nations.
Twenty years after Pope John Paul II visited the island, Pope Francis paid a visit to Sri Lanka in January 2015, where he hosted a mass of one million people in Colombo.
