In India, Sri Lanka blasts enter Lok Sabha election debate

The blasts that ripped through Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday and killed 290 people quickly entered the conversation around India's general election, in which national security has joined unemployement and farm distress as a key voter issue.

Only a few weeks ago, India and arch-rival Pakistan came dangerously close to war after Jaish-e-Mohammed carried out a suicide bombing that killed dozens of paramilitary soldiers in southern Kashmir.

In Sri Lanka, too, the attacks were caried out by seven suicide bombers, a senior investigator said. There has been no claim of responsibility, but Colombo has now said "an international network" was involved. Reuters reported that security experts had said the bombings bore the hallmarks of Islamic State or al Qaeda. On Monday, an explosion went off while officials tried to defuse a bomb.

On Sunday, at an election rally in Rajasthan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India stood with Sri Lanka and said New Delhi was ready to help its southern neighour in every way it could.

Then, he told his audience that when they voted BJP, they were voting to end terrorism.