Death toll from Sri Lanka bombings lowered to 253

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) – Sri Lankan authorities have lowered the death toll from Easter Sunday’s terror attacks to 253 people from the previous estimate of 359.

“Since there was a difficulty in counting the exact number of dead bodies, the number of deaths was reported as an approximate figure,” said Director of Health Service Anil Jasinghe.

On Easter Sunday, a total of eight explosions 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. At least 500 people were also injured in the attacks.

Most of the victims were Sri Lankans, although authorities have said at least 38 foreigners were also killed. They included two Turkish nationals, besides tourists from Britian, U.S, Australia, India, China, Denmark, Netherlands and Portugal.