Sri Lanka lowers Easter attack death toll down to 253

Sri Lankan officials has lowered the death toll in the Easter Sunday attack down to 253 from the previous figure of 359, officials said on Thursday.

The country's Health Ministry said that the state of the bodies made it difficult to give a precise figure and that some bodies had been double-counted.

Around 500 other people were injured in suicide bombings that targeted three churches and three luxury hotels on Sunday.

Most of the victims were Sri Lankan and from the nation's Christian minority. At least 38 foreigners were also killed, including 10 Indians, eight UK nationals, four Americans, and three children of the Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen.