SRI LANKA yesterday accused a local Islamist extremist group, the National Thowheed Jamaath, of being behind a string of Easter bombings against churches and hotels that killed at least 290 people.

Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said the group, which roughly translates as National Monotheism Organization, perpetrated the attack using suicide bombers against three churches and three hotels, adding that it likely had international links.

He also called for the police inspector general, Pujith Jayasundara, to resign because security agencies had received a report warning of attacks by this group against churches and hotels weeks before.

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena said he would seek “international assistance” in the investigations into the serial blasts. Intelligence agencies have reported that “international organizations” were behind these “acts of local terrorists,” said a statement from his office. The statement also said that the government would implement anti-terrorism measures that give additional powers to police, effective at midnight.

A curfew has been imposed from 8 p.m. last night until 4 a.m. this morning.

Police arrested 13 people in connection with the bombings, and three police officers were killed during a raid at a suspect’s house.

Though a majority of the dead were Sri Lankan, at least a dozen were foreigners including people from India, Japan, Britain, China, the United States and Turkey. The unidentified bodies of 25 people believed to be foreigners were at a government mortuary in Colombo.

The dead included “several” Americans, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. He blamed “radical terrorists” for the attacks.

Denmark’s richest man Anders Holch Povlsen and his wife lost three of their four children in the attacks, a spokesman for Povlsen’s fashion firm said yesterday.

Povlsen is the owner of fashion firm Bestseller, which includes brands like Vero Moda and Jack & Jones, and is the majority stakeholder in online retailer Asos while also holding a big stake in Zalando.

He owns more than 1 percent of all the land in Scotland, according to Forbes.

In an updated travel advisory issued late Sunday, the U.S. State Department warned that “terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Sri Lanka,” citing threats to tourist sites, shopping malls, hotels, places of worship and other public areas.

Messages of condolence and condemnation poured in from around the world Sunday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang sent condolence messages to their Sri Lankan counterparts, respectively. “I, on behalf of the Chinese government and people, as well as myself, send my deep condolences to the victims, and my sincere sympathy to the injured and families of the victims,” Xi said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “he hopes the perpetrators will be swiftly brought to justice.” (SD-Xinhua)