Sri Lanka Easter Sunday bombing ringleader 'was killed in attack'

The ringleader behind Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday bombings in which 250 people died was killed in the attack, President Maithripala Sirisena has said.

Sirisena said Zahran Hashim, the radical preacher, was killed at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo.

Hashim is said to have led the attack on the tourist hotel together with a second bomber identified only as Ilham.

The death toll in Sri Lanka’s Easter Day attack is around 100 fewer than the 359 originally thought, a two top government officials told Reuters.

“It could be 250 or 260. I can’t exactly say. There are so many body parts and it is difficult to give a precise figure,” Anil Jasinghe, the director general of Sri Lanka’s health services told Reuters in a phone interview.

Ruwan Wijewardene, Sri Lanka’s deputy defense minister whose ministry is responsible for the island’s police force, said the death toll had been revised down to 253 due to inaccurate figures provided by the country’s morgues.

“Unfortunately the health ministry provided the earlier number to us,” he said.