Colombo, Sri Lanka, on April 22, 2019. - The death toll from bomb blasts that ripped through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka rose dramatically April 22 to 290 -- including dozens of foreigners -- as police announced new arrests over the country's worst attacks for more than a decade.
NEW DELHI, April 22 (Reuters) - An explosion went off on Monday in a van near a church in Sri Lanka where scores were killed the previous day, when bomb squad officials were trying to defuse it, a Reuters witness said.
"The van exploded when the bomb defusing unit of the STF (Special Task Force) and air force tried to diffuse the bomb," the witness said.
Security force spokesman were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani Editing by Robert Birsel
