Alleged Sri Lanka ringleader died in hotel attack

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has claimed that Zahran Hashim, the alleged ringleader behind Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday bombings, was killed in the attacks.

Stating that Sri Lankan intelligence services believed around 130 suspects linked to ISIS were in the country and that police were hunting 70 who were still at large, Sirisena said Hashim led the attack on the popular tourist Shangri-La hotel in the capital, Colombo. Hashim, a radical preacher, is now beloved to have died in that attack.

In the days after the Easter Sunday attacks, Hashim appeared in a video released by ISIS in which seven men - thought to be some of the bombers - pledged allegiance to the group. Hashim was the only one to show his face.

At least 250 people died in the wave of bombings on Sunday, which targeted churches and hotels in Colombo. Sirisena has told reporters that police are still hunting a number of suspects.