With five-for, Wellalage lives up to expectations
Forty suspects, including the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers, have been arrested in connection with the attacks which shook Sri Lanka.
The National Tawheed Jamath is suspected of plotting the deadly Easter blasts.
He was arrested on the charges of unauthorised entry and was later remanded by the Negombo magistrate till May 15, police said.
The curfew was imposed on Sunday after a group of miscreants carrying swords attacked some people travelling on a three-wheeler in Porathota area of the town. The vehicle was set on fire.
Father Edmond Tillekeratne, social communications director for the Archdiocese of Colombo, said that the blast took place after Easter Mass, and that there were about 30 bodies lying in the area of the church.
-- Seven suicide bombers believed to be members of an Islamist extremist group carried out the series of explosions. -- Police have so far arrested 24 people - mostly members of an Islamist extremist group - in connection with the blasts
The blasts -- one of the deadliest attacks in the country's history -- targeted St Anthony's Church in Colombo, St Sebastian's Church in the western coastal town of Negombo and Zion Church in the eastern town of Batticaloa around 8.45 am (local time) as the Easter Sunday mass were in progress.
National flags were lowered and people bowed their heads as the silence began at 8:30 am local time, the time the first of the attacks occurred on Sunday.
Seven persons had been arrested in connection with the blasts.
Meanwhile, a three-member committee appointed to probe the attacks that killed 258 people, including 11 Indians, on Monday submitted its final report to President Maithripala Sirisena.
The details of the attackers and their relatives linked to the bombings was released by the police on Wednesday.
A substantial part of a catholic church in northeast Delhi's Tahirpur area was gutted when a fire broke out at its premises on Monday morning with the Christian community suspecting foul play in the incident.
An under-construction church in Kaimri village near Hisar was vandalised by a group and the cross replaced with an idol of Hanuman, triggering tension in the area in Haryana.
A church in west Delhi's Vikaspuri area was vandalised by unknown miscreants early on Wednesday morning.
'Shami called me today saying 'Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You have framed me.' He further asked me to take back all the allegations for the sake of my and my daughter's lives'
A Dubai-based Indian couple had a narrow escape in the Sri Lanka blasts.
All 240 churches in the city have been identified and assessed for their foolproof security arrangements in the wake of recent attacks on them, and the Delhi Police have also plotted the buildings on a map for a holistic view.
The National Human Rights Commission has issued notices to the Ministry of Home Affairs, Delhi government and police seeking detailed reports on the status of investigation into the alleged vandalisation of a south Delhi church.
Amid the proposed mass conversion ceremony by leaders of an Aligarh-based outfit here on December 25, the Christian community has sought for additional security for their churches in the city.
Sri Lankan cricketer Dasun Shanaka revisited the Easter Sunday horror, the serial blasts that took place in the country on Sunday, leaving almost 300 people dead and more than 500 injured.
Police arrested three persons who had allegedly vandalised a church in order to fulfil a bet they had agreed upon after having a few drinks in the wee hours of Wednesday in west Delhi's Vikaspuri area.
A number of sacred items were damaged at St Alphonsa's Church.
"My heart goes out to the families of the victims and the injured," Modi said.
'What happened last Sunday is a great tragedy, an insult to humanity'
Several people succumbed to their injuries sustained in the blasts, taking the death toll to 359.
'Should the new ISIS leadership opt for a consolidation, the Afghan-Pakistan border would be an attractive place,' warns Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Six persons allegedly involved in vandalising a cathedral premises and a Catholic school, where people had gathered for a religious convention, were arrested in the wee hours on Monday.
Scores of members of the Christian community and social activists staged a protest outside the Delhi Police headquarters in New Delhi on Tuesday morning over alleged the police inaction in the case of the fire which on Monday gutted a church in northeast Delhi's Tahirpur area.
Driven from its self-styled caliphate in Iraq and Syria, Islamic State is down but not out. Where once they confronted armies, the extremist Islamist group's adherents have now staged hit-and-run raids and suicide attacks. In some cases, the group has claimed responsibility for atrocities, including the bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed at least 253 people. Its involvement is not always proven, but even if the link is ideological rather than operational, Islamic State still poses a security threat in many countries.
The Centre on Wednesday told Delhi high court that while the city police have taken steps to ensure safety of churches and institutes run by missionaries, it was "silent" on the issue of protecting other religious places like temples, mosques and gurudwaras.
While churches burn in the capital and lawmakers spew rubbish, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not think it important to utter a word against these atrocities.
Even as the polity find ways and means to address the genuine concerns and fears of the society, the Sri Lankan State apparatus would have to unravel these mystery-questions with convincing answers, and a road-map to the future, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
We sorted through countless photographs taken around the world to come up with the top photos of 2019. Together these images tell the story of the year -- capturing moments of hope and heartbreak, triumph and tragedy.
On this joyous occasion, rediff.com wishes all its readers 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,' as we a take a look at pictures of Christmas festivities from across the globe.
'We must begin dialogue with openness and goodwill, but we will not proceed very far without trust and good faith. The alternative is the violence of 'might is right,' which settles very little and destroys so much of real value,' says Dr Rudolf C Heredia, author of Religious Disarmament -- Rethinking Conversion in India.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances