In Sri Lanka, several people have lost their lives following a devastating attack on Easter Sunday. In a house surrounded by security forces in the eastern part of the country, the forces encountered 15 bodies, including six children and three women.

The house in the coastal town of Sainthamaruthu was said to have been raided by police and soldiers during the anti-terror raid. Thereupon, however, several explosives were detonated in the alleged Islamist hideout, the police said. The police suspect that the detonations are due to one or more suicide bombers.

On Easter Sunday, seven suicide bombers blew themselves up almost simultaneously in three churches in several cities and three luxury hotels in the capital Colombo. Another attack on a five-star hotel failed. A few hours later, two more bombs exploded in a small hotel and residential building in the suburbs of Colombo. In total, more than 250 people were killed. The perpetrators apparently wanted to stir up anger in the West with the attacks on churches and hotels.

The terrorist organization "Islamic State" (IS) claimed the suicide bombing for itself. As a perpetrator Sri Lanka makes a local Islamist group responsible, which must have had help from abroad.

Explosives and IS-flag ensured in another raid

In the now-escalating anti-terrorism campaign against alleged Islamists, the building had been surrounded late Friday evening, according to a police spokesman. The security forces were reportedly shot at from the house. Shortly thereafter, the explosions would have happened. "We searched the building and found 15 bodies, twelve in the house and three in front," the spokesman said. A child and a woman had been taken to hospital injured.

A few hours earlier, several explosives vests, bomb-making equipment and a drone had been found in suspected Islamists in a home a few miles away, the police said. In addition, a flag of the IS and clothing had been found that could come from an alleged confessional video of the assassins from Easter Sunday, which had spread the mouthpiece of the IS. Seven young Muslims were arrested during the raid in the village of Sammanthurai.

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In the mostly Muslim-inhabited region is a large-scale search for more suspects, security forces combed several houses. In the island's capital, Colombo, the police also arrested three men near a railway station and found one kilogram of explosives.

Sainthamaruthu is located about 360 kilometers east of Colombo and not far from the town of Batticaloa, where a church had been attacked on Easter Sunday. The police warn of new attacks by Islamists in the island state, especially on religious goals.