Blast heard behind court outside Colombo, Sri Lanka

An explosion took place behind a court not far from Sri Lanka’s largest city, Colombo, four days after the deadly Easter Sunday attacks. No casualties have been reported, a police spokesman told local media.

The blast occurred on empty land behind the magistrate court in the town of Pugoda, 40km east of Colombo. Police say the explosion was not controlled like several blasts in recent days, when police blew up suspicious objects.

Officials also temporarily closed the road to Colombo international airport and canceled outgoing flights after a suspicious vehicle was stopped at the entrance to the airport car park on Thursday morning. Services, however, quickly returned to normal as the concern proved to be a false alarm.

Sri Lanka is currently under a state of emergency after suicide bombings at luxury hotels and Christian churches killed at least 359 people on Easter Sunday. Government officials suspect two domestic terrorist groups masterminded the terrifying attacks, while “some links” to ISIS have not been ruled out.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!