3 Lankan policemen killed in Easter blasts posthumously promoted

Three policemen, who were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up causing the concrete floor of a two-storey building to crash on them in the Sri Lankan capital, have been posthumously promoted.

One Sub Inspector and two constables were killed during a raid at a house in Colombo north suburb of Orugodawatta at Dematagoda on Sunday. When they entered the house, a suicide bomber blew himself, killing all of them.

"They have been posthumously promoted," Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said.

The Sub-Police Inspector was posthumously promoted as an Inspector while the two constables have been promoted to the ranks of Sergeants, he said.

Seven suicide bombers believed to be members of an Islamist extremist group - the National Tawheed Jamath (NTJ) - carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 290 people and wounding 500 others in the country's worst terror attack.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but police have so far arrested 24 people - mostly members of the NIJ - in connection with the blasts.