Sri Lanka Easter attacks: The death toll has jumped to 290

The death toll in the Sri Lankan Easter attacks has jumped to almost 300, with around 500 people injured.

News agency Reuters has said local police have confirmed 290 people have been killed following a series of devastating explosions which ripped through luxury hotels and churches holding Easter services on the island nation on Sunday.

Previously the authorities put the figure at 207.

Australia's prime minister says two Australian citizens died and another two were injured in the Sri Lankan bomb blasts.

Australia has advised its citizens to reconsider their need to travel to Sri Lanka, the second highest security alert.

The coordinated Easter Sunday bombings that ripped through Sri Lankan churches and luxury hotels, killing more than 200 people, were carried out by seven suicide bombers from a domestic militant group named National Thowfeek Jamaath (NTJ), a government official said Monday.

All of the bombers were Sri Lankan citizens, but authorities suspect foreign links, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said at a news conference.

Earlier, Ariyananda Welianga, a government forensic crime investigator, said an analysis of the attackers' body parts made clear that they were suicide bombers.

He said most of the attacks were carried out by a single bomber, with two at Colombo's Shangri-La Hotel.

The NTJ were the subject of an intelligence warning ten days before the attacks. The warning said they were planning attacks on churches and the Indian high commission.

The bombings have shattered a decade of relative peace in Sri Lanka since the end of a bloody civil war in the late 2010s.

The identities of some of the first victims are emerging including five Britons, three of who may have died in the queue for a breakfast buffet in a major hotel. One victim shared a tragic last selfie to social media moments before a bomb exploded.