THE death toll from the Easter Sunday suicide bombing attacks on churches and hotels in Sri Lanka rose to 359, police said yesterday without providing any further details.

The attacks were claimed Tuesday by the Islamic State militant group, which said they were carried out by seven attackers but gave no evidence to support the claim.

Four more Chinese citizens were feared dead in the multiple bombing attacks, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Cheng Xueyuan said yesterday. As of yesterday, there is one Chinese citizen confirmed to be killed in the attacks, four feared dead, one still missing, and five injured, the Chinese ambassador said.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has asked his Police Chief, Pujith Jayasundara, and Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando to resign following severe security lapses that led to Sunday’s explosions, an official close to the president told Xinhua yesterday.

Police arrested a foreigner at Madampe in northwestern Sri Lanka over suspected links to Sunday’s multiple explosions, local media reported. They said they are investigating whether the suspect was involved in the training of bombers that carried out the deadly attacks Sunday.

Security forces detained 18 new suspects as the government admitted yesterday that “major” intelligence lapses had led to a failure to prevent the attacks.

The 18 new arrests were made in night-time raids using emergency powers, said police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera.

Fifty-eight people are now in custody and more arrests are expected in coming days, deputy defense minister Ruwan Wijewardene told a press conference.

The government has said more attacks are possible and in a sign of the heightened tensions, authorities carried out at least two controlled explosions of a suspect package and vehicle yesterday.(SD-Xinhua)