COLOMBO: A city near Sri Lanka’s capital was placed under curfew by police on Sunday, following clashes between Muslim and Christian mobs two weeks after suicide bombings left 257 people dead.

A senior police officer said the restrictions were imposed to prevent an escalation of violence after attacks took place in Negombo — north of Colombo — where over 100 people died in a church bombing.

“About two motorcycles and a three-wheel taxi have been damaged in the clashes,” the police officer said. “We declared a curfew till 7am to contain the unrest.”

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The country’s main international airport is located in the area, but police said there was no disruption to airport traffic.

The officer said an investigation was underway into the clashes, the first violence between Muslims and Christians since the Easter Sunday attacks targeting three churches and three luxury hotels in the country.

200 Muslim clerics among 600 foreigners expelled since Easter Sunday bombings

The government has blamed the suicide attacks on a local militant group which pledged allegiance to the militant Islamic State group.

The country has been under a state of emergency since the attacks. Security forces and the police have been give sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects for long periods.

Meanwhile, the government has expelled over 600 foreign nationals, including around 200 Muslim clerics, since the bombings.

Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeywardena said the clerics had entered the country legally, but amid a security crackdown after the attacks were found to have overstayed their visas, for which fines were imposed and they were expelled from the island.

“Considering the current situation in the country, we have reviewed the visas system and taken a decision to tighten visa restrictions for religious teachers,” Abeywardena said.

“Out of those who were sent out, about 200 were Islamic preachers.”

The Easter Sunday bombings were led by a local cleric who is known to have travelled to India and had made contact with militants there.

The minister did not give the nationalities of those who have been expelled, but police have said many foreigners who have overstayed their visas since the attacks were from Bangladesh, India, Maldives and Pakistan.

“There are religious institutions which have been getting down foreign preachers for decades,” Abeywardena said. “We have no issues with them, but there are some which mushroomed recently. We will pay more attention to them.”

The minister said the government was overhauling the country’s visa policy following fears that foreign clerics could radicalise locals for a repeat of the April 21 suicide bombings.

House-to-house searches are being carried out across the country, looking for explosives and propaganda material of extremists.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2019