Sri Lanka attack: Father confirms wife and children among eight British victims

Anita Nicholson, son Alex, 14, and daughter Annabel, 11, were having breakfast at the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo when one of the seven suicide bombers struck.

Husband and father Ben confirmed they had been killed in a statement on Monday afternoon.

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to the UK, Manisha Gunasekera, said eight British nationals were killed in the attacks.

"As of now I think there is information on eight nationals who have lost their lives and the other numbers are of other nationals," she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Gunasekera said the investigations were moving "very swiftly" but warned against taking a "linear view" on the motive of the attacks.

She said: "This cuts across the ethnic and religious dimensions ... it's very difficult to see who has been targeted. It appears as if the entirety of Sri Lanka has been targeted as well as the unity and coexistence that Sri Lankans have attempted so hard to safeguard over the years."

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Commenting of the death of his wife and children, Nicholson said: "Anita was a wonderful, perfect wife and a brilliant, loving and inspirational mother to our two wonderful children.

"Alex and Annabel were the most amazing, intelligent, talented and thoughtful children and Anita and I were immensely proud of them both and looking forward to seeing them develop into adulthood.

"They shared with their mother the priceless ability to light up any room they entered and bring joy to the lives of all they came into contact with."

Local media reported Nicholson desperately searching for his family after the blast.

He thanked Sri Lankan medics, the British High Commission and holiday company Adhvan Tours for helping him over the past 36 hours.

He said all three would have died instantly with no pain.

The family had been visiting Sri Lanka for a holiday from their home in Singapore. Mrs Nicholson worked for mining and metals company Anglo American, while Mr Nicholson is a partner with law firm Kennedys.

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No group has claimed the attacks, but Sri Lankan officials have named little-known Islamic extremist organisation National Thowfeek Jamaath.

The seven suicide bombers were all Sri Lankan citizens but the group is believed to have links with foreign terrorist networks.

At least 290 people were killed in the explosions and more than 500 were wounded.

Twenty-four people have since been arrested in a series of raids.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the UK would offer Sri Lanka support in the days to come.

He said the terrorist attacks were "absolutely devastating and despicable" and "for this to happen on Easter Day is something that will shake people around the world, of all faiths and none, to the core".

One line of inquiry will be what intelligence services knew about the attack, with telecommunications minister Harin Fernando tweeting: "Some intelligence officers were aware of this incidence.

"Therefore there was a delay in action. What my father heard was also from an intelligence officer. Serious action need to be taken as to why this warning was ignored."

In Colombo, St Anthony's Shrine and the Cinnamon Grand, Shangri-La and Kingsbury hotels were targeted in the first wave of explosions shortly before 9am local time, as worshippers attended morning services and tourists enjoyed their breakfasts.

At around the same time, explosions were also reported at St Sebastian's Church in Negombo and at Zion Church in the eastern town of Batticaloa.

A few hours later, two more blasts occurred just outside Colombo, one of them at a guesthouse, where two people were killed, and the other near an overpass.

Three police officers were killed during a search at a suspected safe house on the outskirts of Colombo when its occupants apparently detonated explosives to prevent arrest Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq said she had lost a relative in the attacks.

She posted on Twitter: "It's all so devastating. Hope everyone is keeping safe. Solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka."

A curfew was imposed on Sunday night and social media use was also restricted by authorities, which claimed the move was to prevent the spread of false information.

Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe condemned "the cowardly attacks on our people".

Britons caught up in the carnage described the horrific scenes in Colombo.

After the blast at the Cinnamon Grand, NHS doctor Julian Emmanuel, from Surrey, told The Sun: "I've never seen such utter devastation."

He added: "My children and wife are traumatised by what they saw today. We will never forget this. We will always remember Easter Sunday for this reason now."

Kieran Arasaratnam, a professor at Imperial College London Business School, was staying at the Shangri-La.

"Everyone just started to panic, it was total chaos," he told the BBC. "I looked to the room on the right and there's blood everywhere.

"Everyone was running and a lot of people just don't know what was going on. People had blood on their shirt and there was someone carrying a girl to the ambulance. The walls and the floor were covered in blood."

Nisanga Mayadunne – who studied at the University of London, according to her Facebook profile – and her mother Shantha, a TV chef, were also reported to be among the dead.

Mayadunne posted a photo of her family eating breakfast in the Shangri-La on Easter Sunday.