At least 1 Muslim killed in riots: Sri Lankan minister

Published May 14, 2019
Sri Lankan soldiers secure an area near St. Anthony's Shrine after a car explosion in Colombo on April 22, 2019, a day after the series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. - 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. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP) — AFP or licensors
Sri Lankan soldiers secure an area near St. Anthony's Shrine after a car explosion in Colombo on April 22, 2019, a day after the series of bomb blasts targeting churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. - 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. (Photo by Jewel SAMAD / AFP) — AFP or licensors

A Sri Lankan Cabinet minister says a Muslim man was killed and dozens of shops and mosques were destroyed in communal violence in apparent retaliation to the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 250 people.

Rauff Hakeem, a Cabinet minister and leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, said Tuesday that the man was hacked to death Monday in northwestern Sri Lanka when majority ethnic Sinhalese mobs attacked Muslim-owned shops and homes.

A police curfew was imposed in the region.

Communal violence has also been reported in western Sri Lanka.

Muslims have been subjected to hate comments in social media since the April 21 suicide attacks on three churches and three hotels.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were carried out by radicalised local Muslims.

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