Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Monday that four members of his party, the Janata Dal (Secular), were among five Indians killed in blasts in Sri Lanka on Sunday.
At least 290 people died and 500 were wounded in the eight blasts, six of which occurred in the morning as Easter masses were going on on Sunday. The police have so far arrested 24 people in connection with the crime.
“I am shocked to hear that a seven-member team of JD-S workers from Karnataka, who were touring Colombo, has gone missing after the bomb blasts,” Kumaraswamy tweeted. “Two of them are feared killed in the terror strike. I am in constant touch with the Indian High Commission on the reports of those missing.”
“External affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has confirmed the death of two Kannadigas, KG Hanumantharayappa and M Rangappa, in the bomb blasts in Colombo,” he tweeted an hour later. “I am deeply shocked at the loss of our JDS party workers, whom I know personally. We stand with their families in this hour of grief.”
In the afternoon, Kumaraswamy said that four out the seven missing workers had been declared dead. Apart from Hanumantharayappa and Rangappa, the others who died were Lakshmana Gowda Ramesh and KM Lakshminarayan, he tweeted.
“The three others who are missing are H Shivukumar, A Maregowda and H Puttaraju,” the chief minister added. “The Chief Secretary’s office is in constant touch with the Resident Commissioner at Karnataka Bhavan, New Delhi, and the families of the victims and the missing persons for further information on them.”
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