Thirteen people were arrested and three officers were killed on Sunday as police sought those behind a rash of bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed more than 200 people, police and local media said. "Altogether we have information of 207 dead from all hospitals. According to the information, as of now we have 450 injured people admitted to hospitals," police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekera told reporters in Colombo. Those killed included 32 foreigners, following the near simultaneous and co-ordinated explosions that struck three churches and three luxury hotels, in one of the deadliest blasts in the country's history, government officials said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said "several" Americans were among the dead. Global Affairs Canada said in a statement that it has "no reports of any Canadian citizens being affected" by the attacks. Among the fatalities were three people from Denmark, two from Turkey, and one from Portugal, Sri Lankan officials said. There were also Chinese and Dutch among the dead, according to media reports. Five British people, two of whom had dual U.S. citizenship, and three Indians were killed, according to officials in those countries. The eight explosions, some of which officials said were suicide bomb attacks, led to an immediate clampdown, with the government declaring a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time and blocking access to major social media and messaging sites, including Facebook and WhatsApp. SriLankan Airlines is telling passengers booked on flights out of the country that they will be able to fly despite the curfew. Watch: Sri Lanka reels from a series of co-ordinated bomb attacks Carnage in Sri Lanka CBC News 0:40 Sri Lanka reels from a series of co-ordinated bomb attacks on several churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday. 0:40 Three of the blasts targeted St. Anthony's Church in Colombo, St. Sebastian's Church in the western coastal town of Negombo and another, the Zion church in the eastern town of Batticaloa around 8.45 a.m. local time as the Easter Sunday mass was in progress, a police spokesperson said. Three other explosions were reported from the five-star hotels — the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury in Colombo. Foreigners and locals who were injured in hotel blasts were admitted to the Colombo General Hospital. Hours later, two more blasts occurred as police moved to Dematagoda on the outskirts of Colombo and occupants of a house apparently set off explosives to prevent being arrested. A police spokesperson said three police officers were killed when they went to question suspects following a tip. Military spokesperson Brig. Atapattu said one of the two blasts occurred at a guesthouse in Dehiwala, south of the capital, killing at least two people. A Sri Lankan police commando enters a house suspected to be a hideout of militants following a shoot out in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Sunday. Thirteen people were arrested and three officers were killed during raids in search of suspects following the attacks. (Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press) No claim of responsibility There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks in a country which was at war for decades with Tamil separatists until 2009, a time when bomb blasts in the capital were common. Local Christian groups have said they faced increasing intimidation from some extremist Buddhist monks in recent years. Last year, there were clashes between the majority Sinhalese Buddhist community and minority Muslims, with some hardline Buddhist groups accusing Muslims of forcing people to convert to Islam. Dead bodies of victims lie inside St. Sebastian's Church damaged in blast in Negombo, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday. (Chamila Karunarathne/Associated Press) Out of Sri Lanka's total population of around 22 million, 70 per cent are Buddhist, 12.6 per cent Hindu, 9.7 per cent Muslim and 7.6 per cent Christian, according to the country's 2012 census. In a sign that the attacks on three churches and four hotels could lead to communal violence, police reported on Sunday night that there had been a petrol bomb attack on a mosque in the northwestern district of Puttalum and arson attacks on two shops owned by Muslims in the western district of Kalutara. Government had 'prior information' The government has acknowledged that it had "prior information" of attacks on churches involving a little known local Islamist group but didn't do enough about it. Most of the deadly attacks in the past in Sri Lanka were carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which ran a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years. The Tamil movement collapsed in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Ruwan Wijewardena, Sri Lanka's defence minister, described what happened as an "unfortunate terrorist incident" and suggested the explosions were the work of religious extremists. Sri Lanka blast caught on tape CBC News 0:50 New video shows one of the explosions that rocked a church in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on Easter Sunday. 0:50 The Archbishop of Colombo called for those responsible for the Easter Sunday blasts in Sri Lanka to be punished "mercilessly." Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith urged Sri Lanka's government to launch a "very impartial strong inquiry" and punish those found responsible "mercilessly because only animals can behave like that." I strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today. I call upon all Sri Lankans during this tragic time to remain united and strong. Please avoid propagating unverified reports and speculation. The government is taking immediate steps to contain this situation. —@RW_UNP Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was meeting top military officials and tweeted earlier Sunday that "the government is taking immediate steps to contain the situation." He described the attacks as "cowardly" and called on the country to remain "united and strong." Wickremsinghe acknowledged that the government had some "prior information of the attack," though ministers were not told. He said there wasn't an adequate response and there needed to be an inquiry into how the information was used. He also said the government needs to look at the international links of a local militant group. (CBC)<doc-sep>Two further explosions were reported as police tried to find those involved. One blast hit near the zoo in Dehiwala, southern Colombo, and an eighth was reported near the Colombo district of Dematagoda during a police raid, killing three officers.<doc-sep>Bomb blasts ripped through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 207 and injuring 450 people, in the first major attack on the Indian Ocean island since the end of a civil war 10 years ago. Here is a timeline of the explosions and subsequent events on Sunday. Many of the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers, police said. All times are local time in Sri Lanka. 8.45 a.m. - Explosion at Shangri-la hotel in Colombo, the capital. 8.45 a.m. - Explosion at St. Anthony's Church in Kochchikade, Kotahena, Colombo. 8.45 a.m. - Explosion at St. Sebastian Catholic Church in Negambo. 8.45 a.m. - Explosion at Kingsbury Hotel in Colombo. Blood stains are seen on the wall and on a Jesus Christ statue at the St. Sebastian's Church after blast in Negombo, north of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Sunday. (The Associated Press) 8.50 a.m. - Explosion at Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo. 9.05 a.m. - Explosion at the evangelical Zion Church in Batticaloa. 11.30 a.m. - Emergency Security Council meeting held by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. 11.40 a.m. - Government declares closure of schools across the country for two days 12.15 p.m. - President Maithripala Sirisena appeals for people to keep calm 1.45 p.m. - Explosion at New Tropical Inn in Dehiwela, near the national zoo. This was the seventh explosion. (CBC) 2.15 p.m. - Explosion at a house in Dematagoda, Colombo, during a police raid (the eighth explosion). Three police officers were killed. 2.20 p.m. - Officials close down the island national zoo in Dehiwela. 2.30 p.m. - Government blocks major social media networks and messaging services, such as Facebook and WhatsApp. 2.45 p.m. - Government declares indefinite island wide curfew. 4.00 p.m. - All transport services stopped. 4.30 p.m. - Government declares closure of all state universities indefinitely. 5.00 p.m. - Special cabinet meeting held, headed by Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. Relatives of a blast victim grieve outside a morgue in Colombo on Sunday. (Eranga Jayawardena/Associated Press) 5.20 p.m. - Police announce the death toll had risen to 207 with 450 injured. 7.00 p.m. - Police find a van used to transport explosives. 7.15 p.m. - Tourism chief says 32 foreigners killed and 30 injured. 8.50 p.m. - Prime minister orders a probe into why intelligence services failed to act on a warning about the attacks. 9.30 p.m. - Police said 13 arrested, all Sri Lankans. 10.30 p.m. - A petrol bomb attack on a mosque and arson attacks on two shops owned by Muslims are reported in two different parts of the country, police said.<doc-sep>Tributes are pouring in after more than 200 people were killed after a rash of bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka. Officials said about eight explosions targeted churches and hotels in Colombo, Batticaloa and Negombo. With more than 200 people dead and 450 injured, officials are calling it one of the deadliest blasts in the country's history. "It's very devastating," said Shafa Abdul, president of the Sri Lankan Student Alliance group at Western University. "I was shocked. It's really out of nowhere … I wouldn't expect something like this at all … It's really devastating to know a lot of our people are affected," she told CBC News. Abdul, who was born in Sri Lanka and raised in Canada, said she checked in on family members back home after she heard the news. Her relatives are safe. "My sympathies extent to our nation at this time as well as all the families and friends that were affected in any form," she said in a public statement released by the group. Statement released Sunday by the Sri Lankan Student Alliance group at Western. (Shafa Abdul ) Statement from diocese Rev. Ronald P. Fabbro, bishop of the London diocese, responded to the attacks in a public written statement on Sunday. "Along with the rest of the world, I learned this morning of the shocking and cruel terror attacks in Sri Lanka. Easter Sunday is our most holy day, a joyful day that has turned to tears for the innocents who have been injured and killed. These deliberate assaults were not just against our brothers and sisters but on everyone who values life, love, and peace," he said. "Together with Pope Francis, and on behalf of the faithful of the Diocese of London, I condemn these acts of hatred and express our sorrow for the victims and their families," he added. Abdul said the local community should band together in solidarity. "We should all hold a united front and try to help the people that are in need and get the adequate resources that we can," she said. She hopes a public commemoration will be organized in London.<doc-sep>
Str / AFP / Getty Images Sri Lankan security personnel walk through debris following an explosion in St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, north of the capital Colombo, on April 21. A series of explosions in Sri Lanka ripped through churches and hotels on Easter Sunday, killing at least 290 people and injuring more than 500 others on one of the holiest days in the Christian calendar. At least 27 of those who died were foreigners and three were police officers, authorities said. Local police confirmed the death toll to multiple media outlets. Three churches across the island nation and three hotels near the capital, Colombo, were hit with nearly simultaneous blasts, the AP reported. Then, hours later, two more explosions went off: at a guesthouse and on the outskirts of Colombo. Photos from the blast sites showed broken pews in disarray, shattered glass, and statues flecked with ash and blood. Authorities have arrested 24 suspects connected with the bombings, the BBC reported. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks. Here's a map showing the rough locations of the 7 explosions in and around #Colombo on #Srilanka's western coast. There was one more explosion in Batticaloa on the eastern coast. #SriLankaBlasts Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned the attacks and called on people to "avoid propagating unverified reports and speculation." At a press conference, Wickremesinghe said that some parts of the government had some prior information about the attacks, but did not elaborate beyond acknowledging that "information was there," according to the Washington Post. According to the Sri Lankan government news portal, all social media has been blocked in the country to avoid the spread of false news reports in light of the bombings. I strongly condemn the cowardly attacks on our people today. I call upon all Sri Lankans during this tragic time to remain united and strong. Please avoid propagating unverified reports and speculation. The government is taking immediate steps to contain this situation. Officials have warned against sowing divisions following the attacks, which come nearly 10 years after a violent, decades-long civil war between the Tamil Tigers, a separatist militant organization, and the Sri Lankan government. It's estimated that 70,000 people were killed during that conflict, which ended in 2009. But the violence in the country has largely subsided since then. In a statement, Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera said the attacks are "a diabolical attempt to create racial and religious tensions in this country yet again, thereby pulling the country backwards." He called on Sri Lankans to unite, and thwart "this heinous attempt to drag our country back into the dark past." A State Department spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that the US Embassy had identified "several American citizens among the victims." In a tweet Sunday decrying the events, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the blasts as "terror attacks." Eranga Jayawardena / AP The Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo confirmed in a Facebook statement that a blast occurred around 9 a.m. local time. "We are deeply saddened and shocked by the incident and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the casualties and those who have been affected," the hotel said. The Kingsbury in Colombo, which was also targeted, said injured guests and employees were treated and evacuated. The Cinnamon Grand hotel also confirmed they were affected by one of the explosions and that the area had been "isolated for investigations." The attacks have been widely condemned by world leaders. Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, tweeted, "My profound condolences go to our Sri Lankan brethren. Pakistan stands in complete solidarity with Sri Lanka in their hour of grief." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also tweeted his condolences and added, "All possible help is being extended by the authorities." President Donald Trump tweeted condolences to Sri Lankans and said, "We stand ready to help." 138 people have been killed in Sri Lanka, with more that 600 badly injured, in a terrorist attack on churches and hotels. The United States offers heartfelt condolences to the great people of Sri Lanka. We stand ready to help! The White House in a statement condemned the "outrageous terrorist attacks that have claimed so many precious lives on this Easter Sunday" and said that the administration stands with the people and government of Sri Lanka "as they bring to justice the perpetrators of these despicable and senseless acts.” In his Easter address, Pope Francis denounced the attacks, the AP reported.