Coast Guard beefs up surveillance after Lanka blasts

The Indian Coast Guard has beefed up surveillance and deployed more ships and aircraft for patrolling following a series of devastating blasts in Sri Lanka on Sunday.

This has been done to ensure that no element that could pose as a security threat sneaks into the country through sea, a senior Coast Guard official said.

"We have deployed all our ships from Coast Guard stations at Tuticorin, Mandapam and Karaikal for surveillance," the official said.

He said the surveillance was stepped up as soon as reports of the blasts started emerging Sunday.

Seven suicide bombers, believed to be members of an Islamist extremist group, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through churches and luxury hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, killing 290 people and wounding 500 others in the country's worst terror attack.