Sri Lanka declared a state of emergency Monday, giving authorities new powers to tackle suspected terrorists following the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed at least 290.
The president’s office announced that it was invoking emergency powers starting midnight Monday — allowing police and the military to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders.
It comes after 87 bomb detonators were found at the main bus station in the capital, Colombo, on Monday.
A vehicle believed to have been used by the attackers also exploded as the bomb squad tried to defuse it.
Police have arrested 24 men in connection with Sunday’s atrocity, which is being blamed on National Thowheed Jamaath, a newly formed radical Islamist group supporting the global jihadist movement.
President Maithripala Sirisena said he also is seeking international help to find potential overseas groups that may have assisted.
The bombings killed at least 290 people with more than 500 wounded, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said Monday.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that “several US citizens” were among those killed.
Among them was Dieter Kowalski, 40, of Denver, who had checked into the Cinnamon Grand Colombo around 3:45 a.m. Sunday — just hours before it became one of three hotels targeted by the suicide bombers.
With Post wires