NPR

Sri Lanka's Easter Bombings Bring Renewed Violence To A Long-Troubled Country

Here are some key things to know about Sunday's deadly attacks, the group that Sri Lanka blames for perpetrating them — and the country's complicated history.
A Sri Lankan soldier stands guard near the site of a car explosion after police tried to defuse a bomb near St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo on Monday, the day after a series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka.

Updated at 1:09 a.m. ET Tuesday

A day after a wave of deadly suicide attacks in Sri Lanka killed more than 300 people and wounded hundreds more, President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday granted the military sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects.

Politicians emerged from an emergency meeting pointing fingers at a little-known local Muslim group, National Thowfeek Jamaath. They said all seven suicide bombers who attacked Christian churches and prominent hotels across the island nation on Easter Sunday

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