Lockdown at Sri Lanka central bank amid bomb scare, airport road also shut

Sri Lankan security officials ordered a lockdown at the central bank on Thursday due to a bomb scare, two bank officials told Reuters, as the street outside the bank, which is near the World Trade Center, was blocked to traffic.

Authorities also shut off the entry road to Colombo’s main airport after a suspicious vehicle was identified at a nearby car park.

Blast in town east of Sri Lankan capital

An explosion occurred in a town east of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, on Thursday but there were no casualties, a police spokesman said.

Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said police were investigating the blast on empty land behind the magistrate’s court in Pugoda, 40 km (25 miles).

“There was an explosion behind the court, we are investigating,” he said, adding it was not a controlled explosion like other blasts in recent days.

The blast came at a time of high tension in Sri Lanka following the Easter Sunday suicide bomber attacks on the island state that killed 359 people and wounded about 500.