Nationwide curfew as violence hits Sri Lanka

Mob attacks on Muslim communities in Sri Lanka’s nor th-west have left one person dead and dozens of shops and mosques destroyed as communal violence worsened in the wake of Easter bombings that killed more than 250 people.

A Muslim man was hacked to death in Monday’ s violence in which members of the country’s largely Buddhist majority ethnic Sinhalese attacked Muslim-owned shops and homes in several towns.

With communal violence also rep or ted in Sri Lanka’s west, the government imposed a nationwide curfew and temporarily blocked social media and messaging apps.

Tensions have been running high in the Buddhistmajority Indian Ocean island nation since the 21 April attacks by seven suicide bombers who struck two Catholic and one Protestant church and three luxury hotels. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were carried out by a local radicalised Muslim group.