Following a series of eight bomb blasts in Sri Lanka across churches and high-end hotels on Sunday, nearly 290 people were killed and several hundreds of them were injured. The deadly blasts also ended up wrecking three churches and three five-star hotels as the nation was offering prayers for Easter.

It has now been reported that a bomb exploded in a van near a church when bomb squad officials were trying to defuse it. The explosion happened in one of the areas where the killings happened on Sunday. “The van exploded when the bomb defusing unit of the STF (Special Task Force) and air force tried to defuse the bomb,” a witness reportedly said. Earlier today, the Sri Lankan police recovered 87 low explosive detonators abandoned at the Bastian Mawatha private bus stand in Sri Lanka’s Pettah.

As per reports, the blasts happened by  8.45 am when Easter Sunday masses were progressing in the churches as said by police spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekera. St Anthony’s Church located in Colombo, St Sebastian’s Church situated in the western coastal town of Negombo and a church in Batticaloa were apparently the ones attacked.