the bbc‘s azzam ameen is at the scene of one of the attacks in colombo. early to say but even the police are not saying who is behind it. they arejust guessing whether there is an international or religious organisation behind this but it is still very early to. they are just investigating the matter so i just spoke to a government minister and they have no clue. they have no intelligence about an attack like this. so the president is holding a special inquiry and he has

the bbc‘s azzam ameen is at the scene of one of the attacks in colombo.arly to say but even the police are not saying who is behind it. but they are just guessing whether there is an international organisation or a religious organisation behind this. it's still very early to say and they are just investigating the matter so even... i just spoke to a government minister who came to the scene and they say they have no clue and they were never expecting, they had no intelligence report of an attack like this. so president maithripala sirisena had ordered a special inquiry and he has requested people to stay calm because there has been a lot of rumours spreading about more attacks as we have seen thousands of police officers and security officers around the country now, in the roads, guarding the main places because they are fearing more attacks. akshat saraf was on the 25th floor of the shangri la hotel in colombo with his wife and child when the explosion happened. he told me what he heard. at that point my wife and myself were planning to go down for break

the bbc‘s azzam ameen is at the scene of one of the attacks in colombo. suspects have been arrested. they say they believe most of these were suicide bomb attacks and they say one group is behind it but they didn't name but said that is what they are suspecting. a police curfew has been imposed after the latest attack. eight attacks took place. there will be a full countrywide curfew and they will ask the public to remain inside their houses, don't come out, because the situation was panicking and there were a lot of rumours about more attacks. social media, especially facebook and whatsapp have been restricted to stop information from spreading. earlier i spoke to the high commissioner for sri lanka to the uk about what has happened. at this moment i have information that seven suspects have been arrested and is related to suicide bombings. security has been beefed up bombings. security has been beefed up and the government has declared the police emergency, so there is a cu rfew the police emergency, so there is a curfew until 6am tomorrow, and all acti

today's blasts are the worst this country has seen for more our reporter azzam ameen is in colombo.e been some arrests haven't there? just one hour ago police surrounded an area in the suburbs an arrested two people, there was reports of a shoot out but three police officers have died. seven suspects have been arrested. the state defence minister said they believed that most were suicide bomb attacks and he said one group is behind it but he didn't name them. he said there is an investigation and a police curfew has been imposed at the latest. eight attacks have taken place. there will be a countrywide curfew, they asked the public to remain inside, don't come out and, because the situation was panicking, there we re the situation was panicking, there were a lot of rumours going about, attacks and the public were worried and social media, social media especially facebook and whats an have been restricted because of the disinformation spreading. thank you. the pope has condemned the attacks in sri lanka describing them as a "cruel act of violence". speaking at his annual easter day a

the bbc‘s azzam ameen is in colombo, and we can speak to him now. just talk us through the timeline of these explosions. around 845 local time, that is when we heard about the first attack that took place in anthony's church in colombo, one of the major churches. i went there about half an hour after that attack, it was utterly devastating, that were dead bodies all over. around 30 people were dead inside the church. after only two, three hours, they were allowed to ta ke three hours, they were allowed to take those bodies out because of suspected another explosive device inside. from that, we have heard of around eight attacks today, the last onejust one hour ago in around eight attacks today, the last one just one hour ago in another suburb area. police have arrested four people and that have been, we had no has been a conversation with the suspects, so the police have gone there on each tip and have arrested a few people. that is the first artists that have taken place during this whole day of attacks that have been taking place around sri lanka.

the bbc‘s azzam ameen is at the scene of one of the attacks in colombo.o say but even the police are not saying who is behind it. they arejust guessing whether there is an international or religious organisation behind this but it is still very early to. they are just investigating the matter so i just spoke to a government minister and they have no clue. they have no intelligence about an attack like this. so the president is holding a special inquiry and he has requested people to stay calm because there has been a lot of rumours about more attacks. we have seen thousands of police officers around the country, guarding the main places because they are afraid of more attacks. just to reiterate, we are getting reports which would make a seventh explosion in three line cut. the reports the bomb has gone off in colombo and that two police officers have been killed. —— seven explosion in sri lanka. akshat saraf was on the 25th floor of the shangri la hotel in colombo with his wife and child when the explosion happened. he told us what he heard. at that point

the bbc‘s azzam ameen is at the scene of one of the attacks in colombo.uspects have been arrested. they say they believe most of these were suicide bomb attacks and they say one group is behind it but they didn't name but said that is what they are suspecting. a police curfew has been imposed after the latest attack. eight attacks took place. there will be a full countrywide curfew and they will ask the public to remain inside their houses, don't come out, because the situation was panicking and there were a lot of rumours about more attacks. social media, especially facebook and whatsapp have been restricted to stop information from spreading. he is the bbc correspondent in the city and was just giving us an impression on what happened here this morning on the latest in lunchtime. the middle of the evening now in sri lanka, they are five and a half hours ahead timewise so the cu rfew a half hours ahead timewise so the curfew is well in place and there has been thankfully no further news of violence in any place. what is now happening as both the clear up

thank you very much for the latest, azzam ameen, our correspondent in colombo. annual easter day address at the vatican, pope francis said he stood by the victims of the attacks, saying that christians had been hit by "mourning and pain". our religion editor, martin bashir, has the latest. st peter's had been transformed into a vast garden of flowers as christians gathered to celebrate the resurrection of jesus. but as news of the attacks in sri lanka reached the vatican, the pope's traditional easter message was altered to acknowledge the unfolding tragedy. translation: i heard of the serious attacks in sri lanka today with great pain and sadness that on easter sunday have brought mourning and suffering. i would like to express my closeness and affection to the christian community, struck while it was gathered in prayer, and to all the victims of the cruel violence. at canterbury cathedral, archbishop justin welby condemned the attacks. the will to power leads to the murder of innocents in sri lanka, the utterly despicable destruction that, on this holiest of d

hundreds have been injured after blasts in two churches and a number of hotels. 0ur reporter azzam ameenis report from the capital colombo. i am in front of the st anthony's church where the attack took place around 8.45 local time this morning. ijust went inside and it is completely destroyed. i can see a lot of devastation inside and the police are not allowing us to go further, but they say that at least 26 dead bodies are inside which have to be removed shortly. so, this is a major shock for the people who are just coming for sunday prayers, easter prayers. they were not expecting these and there has been a lot of panic because a lot of people have now come to this place to see what happened to their relatives. we are also hearing more attacks. there were three 5—star hotels in colombo where there were blasts reported and another church which is nearby, several miles away, was also under attack. in the eastern city, batticaloa, where another major blast went on, another church, which killed dozens of people. ukrainians head to the polls today in the country's presidential election. v

a few moments ago we spoke to our reporter azzam ameen who is at the scene of one of the explosions.nside and it is completely destroyed, and i can see a lot of devastation inside. police are not allowing us to go further but they say that at least 26 dead bodies are inside which have to be removed shortly. this is a major shock for the people who were just coming for sunday easter prayers and they were not expecting this, and there has been a lot of panic because many people have come around here to see what happened to their relatives. there have also been other attacks, 35—star hotels in colombo had blasts, and another church several miles away was under attack, and another in and eastern city where another in and eastern city where another blast was in another church that killed dozens of people. we will keep you updated throughout the morning. hundreds of extra police officers have been drafted into central london to help clear climate change protestors from the capital's roads. demonstrators are still occupying waterloo bridge and parliament square. the metropolitan police comm