Sri Lanka government orders new curfew after attacks

The Sri Lankan government on Monday imposed a new night-time curfew in the country as tensions remained high following a series of bomb attacks on Sunday.

The curfew will run from 8 pm on Monday until 4 am on Tuesday, the government information department said.

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An indefinite curfew ordered Sunday after the attacks waslifted early Monday but a two-day holiday was decreed in a bid to reduce public traffic.

Around290 people were killedand about 500 wounded by a string of bombings that tore through churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday.

Twenty four people were arrested bySri Lankan policein connection with a series of thedevastating bomb blastsin the country.

Authorities have not made public details on those held after Sunday's attacks.

There was still no claim of responsibility for the attacks on two churches and four hotels in and around Colombo, the capital of predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka, and a third church on the country's northeast coast.

A government source said President Maithripala Sirisena, who was abroad when the attacks happened, had called a meeting of the National Security Council early on Monday. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe would attend the meeting, the source said.

(With inputs from Reuters)