Im George Howell. The cnn newsroom starts right now. At 2 00 a. M. On the u. S. East coast, it is a day of mourning in sri lanka after a series of deadly bombings that hit on Easter Sunday. A day later and the death toll continues to rise there. Here is where things stand right now. There were eight different explosions on the island. The explosions killing 290 people. The bombs targeting four hotels and three churches. Again, all of this happening on the day that christians around the world celebrated Easter Sunday in sri lanka. That community is devastated. The entire island is in mourning. The bombings appeared to have been coordinated attacks. Police have at least two dozen arrests at this point, at least three Police Officers were killed in one of those raids. At this point, no group has come forward to claim responsibility. As for the investigation itself in sri lanka, there may have been signs that an attack was in the works. A Police Source says that an intelligence memo circulated earlier this month. It said the leader of a muslim Extremist Group might be planning a suicide operation. The United States is also warning its citizens to take increased caution if traveling to the island. The state department saying terror groups continue plotting possible attacks. Lets bring in cnn correspondent nakil kumar. 24 hours ago you and i were talking about these first reports of explosions. Tell us more about whats happening right now on the ground. Reporter well, george, there was a curfew overnight all across this island of 21 Million People in the aftermath of those bombings. One of them took place where im standing, the Cinnamon Grand Hotel around breakfast time here on Easter Sunday. One of the hotels hit along with the three churches that you mentioned. This morning the Security Forces are out in force all across this island and the hotel. Any car going in been you c, yo the guard behind me that is armed. One of several spread across this area. Being stopped, being checked, not allowed to enter unless everyone is frisked and they have some business in the hotel. This is true around every public place in columbo since we arrived. What seems like a very sophisticated attack, a series of bombs, how it all came about in a country that in the past has seen terror. Its been through a very violent civil war that devastated this country for almost three decades. But its going to be the tenth anniversary of the end of that war next month, and people here have been getting used to some normalcy, to peace. So the biggest question that everybody has here today is why has this happened to us . Why are we back there all over again. George . Nakil, there was this memo circulating warning of a possible attack. What are authorities saying about that as it does appear the memo may have just been overlooked here. Reporter well, george, the Prime Minister has said that he was not aware of the memo, and that now there is going to be an investigation to see what was known, what warnings there were and why they werent heeded. But the memos become a major controversy here. Ordinary people here have said that theyve asked the question as to why wasnt more done. Security, as i say, today has been stepped up in the aftermath of the attacks. Why wasnt it done before the attacks to prevent this atrocity from happening in the first place . Its a major, major atrocity. You mentioned the death toll, already close to 300 people. If you think about it in context of the terror attacks that have taken place in this wider region in the last ten or so years. The mumbai terror attacks, only 160 to 170 people, almost half of this. That was such a devastating attack. This is almost double already. George . Nakil, if you would give us a sense of the history of that island, the ethnic and religious backgrounds also coming into play here because this nation, as you just pointed out, a decade past a civil war. Reporter thats right. Throughout the 80s and the 90s and into the 2000s this country was devastated by a violent, brutal civil war which pitted the minority, which lives in the north, concentrated in the north of the country, against the majority which is in the south. Christians were a minority in this country and were targeted yesterday in those church bombings. Theyre a minority and they belong to both communities. This targeting of a religious Community Like this on such a holy day, Easter Sunday, this is unusual. This hasnt happened in recent years, and this is new over here. Its one of the things that people are trying to come to terms with. One, the return to violence, which people thought had ended in 2009, with the end of that war following a massive military offensive and the targeting of a minority. There have been tensions here, but theres been an effort from many quarters to try to reconcile in communities. In 2019 when the pope visited sri lanka, he held mass in columbo, and the message was very much one of reconciliation. Thats really whats at stake after the attack, that has brought fear to this country. George . Nakil kumar following this story for us. Thank you. Well keep in touch with you as you learn more from the investigation there. Lets bring in greg barton, a professor of global islamic politics at Deacon University in australia. Joining us from melbourne. Thank you for being here. Its good to have you. Thank you, george. Lets talk more about the memo circulating warning of a possible suicide attack. How important do you feel this piece of information might have been in having some knowledge about this attack . Well, george, as were hearing, this is the biggest terrorist attack since 9 11 in a stable democracy. Its sort of old school going back to the last decade. They have these coordinated mass explosions. So a major intelligence failure. How did this happen . It appears a perfect storm. The government wasnt paying attention. The failure to pass on this april 11th memo that may have passed information from the indian raw intelligence agency, just mentioned a foreign intelligence agency. One possible explanation is that the former president and former Prime Minister, who has got a strong following in the Security Forces, these guys may have calculated that it was good to embarrass the current government. Not wishing an attack, but nevertheless not letting them have the full picture of the security situation. Whatever the explanation, there was a perfect storm situation where a local terror group, we think, probably inspired by the Islamic State, involving perhaps some of the 40 sri lankans who have gone to syria to fight with the Islamic State pulled off a terrorist attack. One would hope the latter suggestion you offered there was not the reason that memo didnt circulate, but, again, the warning was not there and we see these attacks that took place. Were talking about these soft targets. Soft targets, churches, hotels, the timing also key as well, on Easter Sunday when these churches would have been packed, when foreigners who travelled to sri lanka were staying in these hotels. Thats right, george. Soft targets by definition are easy. Whats not easy is to pull off simultaneous highpowered explosions, six simultaneously and two further subsequently and a ninth detected in a pipe bomb outside the airport. Thats pretty hard to do because normally you get picked up by intelligence in your communications, and thats whats remarkable about this attack. So, you know, im speculating about what may be behind it in a political context, but in any democracy, interagency intelligence sharing, think of the 9 11 commission report, for example, sharing between cia and fbi. We all struggle with this, even in the best of times, and sometimes Holding Back Information just a little bit too long and not giving enough information in the right time because of a sense of rivalry or whatever the turf war consideration may be can lead to a fatal error. And Something Like that may have happened here because otherwise even soft targets would not be hit so freely on such a scale, if somebody had been paying attention. Greg, i want to touch on this with you as well. I asked nakil just a moment ago, but i think its important here to get a sense of the ethnic and religious divide, the tensions that exist in sri lanka and how that might play into what we saw just the other day. Well, george, were just a month shy coming up to the tenth anniversary of a truly horrible civil war that raged on for a quarter of a century. Saw the insurgent ltt tiger group turn into a terror group with suicide bombings. In fact, they really pioneered for us, the entire world, the suicide bombing method. That involved a horrible end to the war. Lots of human rights abuses alleged. 90,000 lives lost at least, but the last decade has been relatively peaceful. This is a successful multicultural nation, multiethnic, multireligious. 70 buddhist, but other communities who are catholics and christians, about 8 , about 10 muslims, and it has been a peaceful island. You know, its seen tourism numbers double in the space of five years. People like it because of the peacefulness. People get long well. We saw people queueing up in the thousands to donate blood after the blasts. This is very out of character. With a country which has had a troubled history, but which was thought to have got over this troubled history. And the Christian Community there a very small community. I believe, correct me if im wrong, around 7 . Give us a sense, if you have any insight or thought, as to why that group, that small group would be targeted in sri lanka. Yeah, its about 7 , 8 , its 82 catholic and the rest various protestant churches. The two biggest churches hit around colu around columbo on the west coast, but on the east coat was a protestant church. This is speculation but, again, if this is indeed involving the Islamic State or sum suome such external actor, targeting christians is very much part of their propaganda, their narrative. Christians have been complaining for years to degrees of persecution and harassment. There have been troubles around the edges. The muslims have also been complaining about persecution. I think this comes from external factors. Greg, you know, there is a lot thats left unanswered at this point. What we do know, clearly these attacks were coordinated. Clearly, the time was important, on Easter Sunday, and at this point there are a lot of families who are now left without their loved ones. Greg, thanks for your time. Yeah, its incredibly tragic. Thank you, george. Leaders from around the world have certainly condemned the attacks in sri lanka. They are sending their words of support from the nation. This from the former u. S. President barack obama, saying the bombings were an attack on humanity. Mr. Obama adding, on a day devoted to love, redemption and renewal, we pray for the victims and stand with the people of sri lanka. Pakistans Prime Minister also condemning the bombings. He tweeted this, my profound condolences go to our sri lanka brethren. Pakistan stands in complete solidarity with sri lanka in their hour of grief. Turkey also, president erdogan had this message for people directly affected. On behalf of the turkish people, i offer my condolences to the family of the victims and the people of sri lanka, and wish a speedy recovery to the injured. Of course we continue to follow this story for you. For the very latest updates on whats happening in sri lanka and the bombings there, you can get that at cnn. Com. Still ahead here on newsroom, a political novice, even a comedian he is, well, he will be the next president of ukraine and he will go toetotoe with the russian president vladimir putin. How will he fair . With that, well take a look. Plus, paris holds its First Sunday Service since the notre dame fire. Well tell you how the city is coping one week after that devastation. Around the world and in the u. S. , youre watching newsroom. I stood outside, assessing the situation. 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This is the family who booked the flight, who saved by adding a hotel, which led to new adventures, that captured their imaginations and turned moments into memories. With flights, hotels, activities and more for your florida vacation, expedia has everything you need to go. As we learn more about the attacks, we also learn more about the victims. One of them, she was a wellknown tv chef in sri lanka, popular in india and the United Kingdom as well. Her daughter apparently posted this image on facebook. That image posted right before the attacks. The family was sitting down for Easter Breakfast at the hotel in colombo. Both the mother and daughter lost their lives. Overall, 290 people were killed in these attacks. Now to ukraine. The election there is over. People have spoken and now a comedian and tv star is that new president for that nation. Voldymyr zelensky is the new president. His only political experience is playing president on ukrainian tv. Exit polls show that zelensky pulled about 73 of the vote in the president ial election. Ukraines current president Petro Poroshenko received about a quarter of the vote. Cnns phil black looks at the new challenges the president will face. Reporter the sitting president has been removed peacefully and democratically in ukraine. Thats historic because the last one was forced out in a violent and hard fought revolution that left more than 100 People Killed only five years ago. This election is also extraordinary because of who has won. Voldymyr zelensky, the political novice, the professional comedian and actor. The man who has become famous in this country through pretending to be ukraines president on a tv show. That show, the servant of the people, shows zelensky playing a regular guy who accidentally becomes president and goes on to do battle with corrupt oligarchs and politicians to try to clean up the political system here. Zelenskys campaign was very much molded on thdelled on that. He made a virtue of his ignorance and inexperience. A fresh face. He didnt give many interviews. He didnt talk a lot about policy detail. He fought his campaign using online videos, often cheeky, mocking the old political guard in this country. His broad somewhat abstract message, that hes going to make it a better place. Somehow. It worked. He led the campaign throughout. He easily won the first round of voting and in the runoff, exit polls suggest he secured around 73 of the vote. Translator i will never let you down. To all postsoviet countries, i tell you, look at us. Everything is possible. We did it together thanks to everyone. Now there will be no pathetic speeches. I just want to say thank you. The hard work starts day one of the zelensky presidency. He inherits a troubled economy and a fiveyear war against russianbacked separatists in the east of the country. This professional clown will now be internationally going facetoface with the vastly experienced president of russia, vladimir putin. All of this matters because ukraine represents the front line of the wests confrontation with russia across a wide range of issues. How zelenskys going to deal with all of this really isnt known because politically, publicly he represents essentially a blank piece of paper, but his enthusiasm, his smile and charisma, his sense of honesty, all of this has been enough to convince many ukrainians to support him, or at least help them realize that they simply dont want five more years of the same. Phil black, cnn, kiev. Phil black, thank you. In sudan, protesters and opposition groups are cutting off contact with the military council, tmc. Theyve been in a sitin since the president of that nation, omar albashir, was forced from office on april 11th. Theyre pushing for a swift handover to civilian rule. Translator to the masses of our people, the role of the armed forces is not to rule but to protect and defend the borders of the country. There is no recognition for any Transitional Authority and any coup detat authority. All of this will be considered unlawful. The opposition says the military council is made up of remnants of the bashir regime. In the meantime, the head of the council said several Million Euros and 350,000 was found in bashirs official residence. Officials say the money had been transferred to the bank and a formal arrest warrant has been issued for bashir on corruption charges. Soldiers killed in an Early Morning attack according to the defense minister. No one has claimed responsibility. However, military posts in mali are routinely attacked by separatists and terror groups with links to al qaeda. Now to paris where worshippers who were supposed to attend easter serves at notre dame, they were forced to celebrate elsewhere. Many of them marked the holy day at a much Smaller Church nearby. Notre dame burned down nearly a week ago. Cnns melissa b