Sri Lanka revises Easter attack death toll

UPDATE: The archbishop of Colombo, Sri Lanka, has asked parishioners to stay home Sunday for their own safety. “We don’t want repetitions,” Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith told journalists. Ranjith said Catholic officials had seen a leaked security document showing that churches continue to be a major target for possible attacks.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (12:22 p.m.): A Sri Lankan military spokesman said Friday that soldiers exchanged gunfire with terror suspects after attempting to conduct a raid on a building during the ongoing investigation into Easter Sunday’s suicide bomb attacks. Brig. Sumith Atapattu said a gunbattle was underway in the coastal town of Sammanthurai. Officials late Thursday lowered the death count from Sunday’s attacks to 253 people. Senior health ministry official Anil Jasinghe said the nine explosions at churches and hotels damaged some bodies beyond recognition, making positive identification difficult. The foreign ministry raised the death toll of foreigners to 40 people.

On Friday, police confirmed that Mohamed Zahran, the leader of local militant group National Towheed Jamaat, died in one of the bombings. Authorities also arrested the group’s second-in-command. Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said police are looking for 140 more people with suspected connections to Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the violence. “We will completely control this and create a free and peaceful environment for people to live,” he said.

Authorities deployed heavy security across the streets of the capital city of Colombo on Friday to prevent more attacks. They also urged Muslims to avoid gathering for their Friday prayers. At the Masjidus Salam Jumma mosque in Colombo’s Maligawatta neighborhood, hundreds of men and boys still gathered. Community leaders agreed women should not attend, and armed police officers stood guard outside the mosque.