Developing story

Updated 20:00 GMT, April 24

The death toll of the bombings rose to 359, as Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said there were still suspects with explosives at large. Sri Lanka's parliament implemented emergency regulations without a vote, which will give the President and security forces further sweeping powers. 

The spokesperson for the Tamil National Alliance MA Sumanithrian, urged for unity and restraint, whilst calling on the governor of the Eastern Province to be investigated for his links with the National Thowheed Jamaath, a lesser known jihadist group that has been blamed by Sri Lankan authorities for the Easter Sunday bombings that have killed over 300 people. Although the exact role of Isis in the attacks is yet to be established, it is though that the group’s involvement reoriented the local attackers away from bombs directed at destroying major Buddhist monuments and towards targets more closely associated with its global jihadist ideology, reports the Guardian.

Accusations of the Sri lankan government’s failure to act on international intel further solidified, as the Guardian reported international sources confirming that intel had been provided to Sri Lanka in advance of the attacks. By the end of the day a total of 80 suspects had already been detained in links to the attacks. 

Across the Tamil homeland, commemoration events were held to mark the anniversary of the death of Annai Poopathy, a Tamil woman who fasted to death 31 years ago n protest against the atrocities committed by Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF).

At least two Tamil women who were working as de-miners in Kilinochchi have been admitted to  Jaffna Teaching Hospital’s intensive care unit, after a landmine detonated on Thursday evening.

A senior Tamil journalist has been admitted to hospital with injuries after a vehicle collision in Jaffna on Saturday.

Two US navy ships arrived in the southern Sri Lankan port of Hambantota on Thursday, ahead of an exercise with Sri Lankan troops, as ties between two militaries continue to grow. 

Pakistan’s navy sent a delegation to tour Sri Lanka and meet with a Sri Lankan navy officer who is currently on bail over aiding a key suspect involved in the abduction and murder of 11 Tamil youths.

Tamil Guardian’s correspondent Shanmugam Thavaseelan was summoned for questioning by Mullaitivu police on Thursday, after the Sri Lankan navy filed a complaint against him for reporting on a disappearances rally in the district.

The complaint against the Mullaitivu journalist was filed following a rally by Tamil families of the disappeared on Vadduvakal bridge on April 7.

The Sri Lankan army organised a volleyball tournament in a Mullaitivu school playground last week, as the military continues to intrude on civilian life in the Tamil North-East.

Soldiers from the 64 Division organised the tournament at the Oddusudan school playground, which reportedly involved at least 12 school teams from the local area. 

Australians across the country have called for the release of a Tamil asylum seeker who has been diagnosed with leukaemia after being held in detention for almost a decade since he fled in Sri Lanka.

Sivaguru ‘Rajan’ Navanitharasa fled the island to Australia in the wake of a Sri Lankan military offensive that killed tens of thousands of Tamil civilians. The 45-year-old has now spent almost one-fifth of his life in Australian detention centres, being held first on Christmas Island and then in Villawood, said the Tamil Refugee Council.

The United States says it has a “strong partnership” with Sri Lanka, in a message released to mark the Tamil and Sinhala New Year.

US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus released a statement saying the partnership between the two governments is “based on extensive people-to-people ties and a shared commitment to democratic principles and a stable, secure Indo-Pacific”. 

“We look forward to building on this partnership and continuing to tackle shared challenges in the year ahead,” the statement added.