A British politician said she lost a relative in Sri Lanka’s deadly Easter bombings

Suzanne Plunkett

Tulip Siddiq, one of the few ethnic minority politicians in the UK, has said she lost a relative in Sri Lanka’s deadly Easter bombings.
Siddiq, a member of Parliament for the UK’s opposition party Labour, did not give further details.
The Sri Lanka death toll has risen to 290 after a wave of bombs exploded across the country on Sunday morning, in the deadliest violence the country has seen since the end of its civil war in 2009.
Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the UK has said eight British nationals died in the attacks.

Tulip Siddiq, a politician for the UK’s opposition Labour party, has said she lost a relative in Sri Lanka’s deadly Easter bombings that took place on Sunday.

Siddiq, one of the UK’s few ethnic minority politicians, wrote on Twitter late on Sunday: "I lost a relative today in the Sri Lanka attacks. It’s all so devastating. Hope everyone is keeping safe. Solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka."

She did not give further details, but her tweet prompted an outpouring of sympathy from fellow politicians.

Siddiq herself is of Bangladeshi extraction, and represents the London constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn. Her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, is the prime minister of Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka’s death toll from the bombings has risen to 290, with a further 500 injured after the wave of explosions took place across the country through Sunday morning. Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to the UK, Manisha Gunasekera, has said eight British nationals were killed.

Eight bombs went off across Christian churches around the country as worshippers attended the Easter service, and across three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo. There was a further blast at a hotel near Dehiwala Zoo in Dehiwala, and a final blast at a private address in Dematagoda during a police raid. Sri Lanka’s air force defused a ninth crude bomb at Colombo airport before it went off.

Police have arrested 24 Sri Lankan nationals, but no group has claimed responsibility for the attacks as yet. Sri Lanka’s defence minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, suggested the culprits were religious extremists and likely suicide bombers.

Read our full coverage of the Sri Lanka Easter bombings here.

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