India's coast guard on alert after Sri Lanka blasts

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI, India (AA) - The Indian Coast Guard has been on high alert and surveillance was reinforced along the maritime border following Sunday’s devastating bomb blasts in neighboring Sri Lanka island, local media reported on Monday.

“We have deployed all our ships from coast guard stations at Tuticorin, Mandapam and Karaikal for surveillance,” the Press Trust of India (PTI) said quoting unnamed officials.

The surveillance was beefed up immediately after the reports of explosions emerged in Sri Lanka on Sunday, the report said, citing aim to hinder any security threat from sneaking into India by sea.

A total of eight explosions left at least 290 dead, over 500 injured when they targeted eight different locations in and outside Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.

The bombings hit churches in Kochchikade, Negombo and Batticaloa cities, as well as Kingsbury, Cinnamon Grand and Shangri La hotels in Colombo.

There was 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 on Sunday night, according to police reports.