Authorities in Sri Lanka on Thursday lowered the death toll in a spate of Easter bombings by more than 100 to 253, admitting some of the badly mutilated bodies had been erroneously double-counted.
The toll revision will boost the pressure on a government already under fire over its apparent failure to act on intelligence about the attacks, and follows the resignation of a top defence official.
The top bureaucrat in the island nation’s defence ministry, Hemasiri Fernando, was the first official to step down in the wake of the attacks — the worst since a civil war ended more than a decade ago.
“Many of the victims were badly mutilated… There was double counting,” the health ministry said in explaining the new death toll of 253, down from 359 announced on Wednesday.
The ministry said that once all autopsies were completed, and cross-referenced with DNA samples, the new lower toll was reached.
The ministry did not offer a new breakdown of the tally in terms of locals and foreigners. Earlier, Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry had said 40 of the victims were foreign nationals.
