Sri Lankan police were forced into making a retraction earlier today, after it emerged they had falsely identified an American university student as a suspect wanted in the Easter Sunday bombing attacks.

Earlier the Sri Lankan police released images of purported suspects, including a photograph of a woman they claimed was “Abdul Cater Fathima Khadhiya”.

It quickly emerged that the woman in question was Amara Majeed, a Baltimore local who is a student at Brown University.

Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe today admitted the government's "failure" to ensure security which could have prevented the Easter Sunday bombings which killed over 250 people across the island, but refused to take personal responsibility. 

Sri Lankan police, including Special Task Force (STF) personnel are registering details about Muslims living and working in areas of the North-East according to local reports.

STF personnel were gathering information about Muslims in Point Pedro from the divisional secretariat as well as the local mosque.

Police were also visiting mosques in Jaffna town, as well as in and around Mullaitivu town, and asking for details on worshippers, mosque administrators said.

Religious leaders and civil society representatives came together for a memorial event in Mannar to pay tribute to the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks.

The memorial was attended by Muslim, Christian and Hindu leaders as well as civil society and local government politicians.

Sri Lankan security forces were deployed across Batticaloa in increased numbers following the Easter Sunday bombings. 

The United States warned today that terrorist groups continue to plan possible attacks in Sri Lanka and may strike with little or no warning. 

A candlelight vigil was held in New York City’s Union Square on Tuesday for the victims of the Easter Sunday attacks.

One vigil attendee shared that “a collective space for our grief and anxiety was a comfort.”

The vigil contained messages of honoring and lifting up the lives lost, sending love, healing and solidarity for those harmed, grieving the loss of loved ones, and mourning the desecration of sacred sites. Calls were also made for the prevention of profiling and extremist and/or nationalist backlashes, and for intercommunity solidarity and pluralism. The organisers emphasized uniting together against fueling existing tensions between communities, and specifically uniting against Islamophobic rhetoric, policies and narratives as a whole.

Sri Lanka's Health Ministry issued a statement minutes ago, reducing the death toll of Easter Sunday's devastating attacks from 359 to 253.

Citing a calculation error, the Director General of Health Services Dr Anil Jasinghe said the death toll had been reduced to 253, according to reports from CNN and BBC news journalist Azzam Ameen. 

Reports have emerged of Muslims businesses and homes being attacked in Sri Lanka as well as Muslims forced to flee their homes, in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombings that have killed more than 350 people so far.

At least two Muslim shops have been burnt down, mosques have been pelted with stones and there have been several incidents of attacks on homes and individuals, including Pakistani refugees. A Sri Lankan parliamentarian with the prime minister’s United National Party has also called for a ban on burqas, a type of traditional Muslim attire. 

The city of Brampton, passed a motion on Wednesday recognising that the atrocities perpetrated by Sri Lanka against the Tamil nation constituted genocide, and recognising May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day.

Police in Jaffna prohibited residents from putting up black flags during Tuesday’s island-wide day of mourning for the victims of the Easter Sunday bomb blasts, claiming the black flags seemed like a protest against the Sri Lankan government.

Nelliyadi police forced locals to take down black flags and tried to encourage them to put up white flags in memory of the victim instead.