April 26, 2019
The death toll from the terrorist bombings that targeted Christians in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday was revised down from 359 by about 100 on 25 April.
The new official figure of 253 was released by Deputy Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene.
Sri Lankan officials said the previous inaccurate number was due to the difficultly of identifying body parts as so many people died in close proximity to one another.
The head of Sri Lankan health services, Anil Jasinghe, said there had been so many body parts it was "difficult to give a precise figure".
Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the atrocities and said it was targeting Christians .
