Drones & detonations: How Sri Lanka is responding to the attacks
SUMMARY
Sri Lanka has banned drones and is detonating suspicious items around its capital city in the aftermath of a series of deadly bombings on Easter Sunday that killed at least 359 people.
In a statement, Sri Lanka's civil aviation authority said it was banning drones and unmanned aircraft because of the "existing security situation in the country," The Associated Press reported.The ban will remain in place until further notice, Sri Lankan authorities said.
Investigators were searching for other possible explosive devices and stopping to search people and vehicles in Colombo on April 25, 2019, AP reported, four days after blasts ripped through hotels and churches across Sri Lanka.
Few people were outside in parts of the city while authorities searched locations near where the bombs went off, according to the AP. Sri Lanka has also imposed a curfew, from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m. local time.
Drones carrying explosives have previously been used by militant groups such as ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for the Sri Lankan attacks.
But ISIS' links to the attacks have not been proven, and authorities have blamed National Towheed Jamaat, a local extremist group that has not taken public responsibility. A high-level intelligence official told CNN that the group was planning another round of attacks in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan authorities said they believe an international network of extremists could have helped the group carry out the attacks.
Almost 60 people have been detained in relation to the bombings, while two brothers who are believed to have been involved in the bombings, Imsath Ahmed Ibrahim and Ilham Ahmed Ibrahim, were members of one of the city's wealthiest families.
Sri Lanka's deputy defence minister said on April 24, 2019, that the country believes one of the bombers studied in the UK and Australia.
This article originally appeared on Insider. Follow @thisisInsider on Twitter.