Cyclone Kenneth makes landfall in Mozambique
AFP / Ibrahim YOUSSOUFShacks and trees were flattened in Moroni, the capital of Comoros, as Kenneth swung by on Thursday
A powerful cyclone made landfall in northern Mozambique Thursday evening, barely a month after a super-storm slammed into the country's centre, leaving hundreds dead and causing devastation.
Cyclone Kenneth hit the north coast of Mozambique in Cabo Delgado province after swiping the Comoros.
The UN warned of flash flooding and landslides.
Some parts of the city are in darkness, and strong winds have felled trees and destroyed boats.
"Cyclone Kenneth is currently making landfall on the north coast of Mozambique," the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement.
"The Cyclone is expected to bring heavy rains in the area for several days, with over 600 millimetres rainfall expected."
That volume of rain would be nearly double the 10-days accumulated rainfall that caused flooding in Beira during Cyclone Idai.
Forecasters at Meteo-France warned that Kenneth could trigger waves off Mozambique's northeastern shore as much as five metres (16 feet) higher than usual.
"I was quite preoccupied by the sea because they announced six metre waves ... the wind was very strong, and I've never seen anything like it in my 15 years in Pemba," a Portuguese owner of a lodge on Wimby beach, Anabela Moreira, told AFP.
Local journalist Jonas Wazir told AFP that he "noticed that some precarious houses had fallen down."
Wazir said the electricity supply in the city was down and strong winds were gusting since this afternoon.
The Red Cross warned it was "especially concerned" about the storm's impact, as many communities in Mozambique are still recovering from a cyclone that hit on the night of March 14-15.
The most powerful storm to strike the region in decades, Cyclone Idai cut a path of destruction through Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. It left more than a thousand dead and causing damage estimated at around $2 billion (1.8 billion euros).
Kenneth passed by the Indian Ocean archipelago nation of Comoros on Thursday, battering it with high winds and heavy rains, the country's Meteorological Office wrote on Facebook.
"We must stay alert, avoid touching fallen power cables, wait for permission before driving and keep children at home," it said.
An AFP team in the Comoran capital Moroni saw shacks destroyed by the rain and wind, and high seas as a result of the cyclone.
"I have three children, one is small, just one month and 10 days (old). We were here until 11 pm last night when things deteriorated," local resident Abdillah Alaoui told AFP.
"It was our neighbours who evacuated us."
- Tanzania concern -
Tanzanian authorities ordered schools and businesses shut in some southern districts on Thursday and urged people to brace for extreme winds and rain.
The Tanzanian provinces of Mtwara, Lindi and Ruvuma were at highest risk and could experience strong winds and downpours from the middle of the Thursday, the country's meteorological agency said.
Residents in Mtwara were already leaving the coastal enclave with their families, some on foot, for emergency shelters, witnesses told AFP by phone.
AFP / Adrien BARBIERDeluge: The town of Buzi in central Mozambique was among the victims of huge floods caused by Cyclone Idai last month
Gelasius Byakanwa, the governor of Mtwara, ordered schools closed in his province and asked "students to stay home and employees not to go to their offices".
However, he called on medical staff, police and utility workers to remain on duty.
"This storm will hit the north and we are expecting that heavy rain will provoke flash floods and landslides impacting the northeastern provinces of Cabo Delgado and Nampula," the WFP said in a statement earlier.
"WFP is working under government coordination and with other humanitarians on an emergency preparedness plan."
Sri Lanka blast toll revised down to 253 as some 'double-counted'
AFP / ISHARA S. KODIKARASri Lanka police are patrolling cemeteries in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings
Authorities in Sri Lanka on Thursday lowered the death toll in a spate of Easter bombings by more than 100 to 253, admitting some of the badly mutilated bodies had been erroneously double-counted.
The toll revision will boost the pressure on a government already under fire over its apparent failure to act on intelligence about the attacks, and follows the resignation of a top defence official.
The top bureaucrat in the island nation's defence ministry, Hemasiri Fernando, was the first official to step down in the wake of the attacks -- the worst since a civil war ended more than a decade ago.
"Many of the victims were badly mutilated... There was double counting," the health ministry said in explaining the new death toll of 253, down from 359 announced on Wednesday.
The ministry said that once all autopsies were completed, and cross-referenced with DNA samples, the new lower toll was reached.
The ministry did not offer a new breakdown of the tally in terms of locals and foreigners. Earlier, Sri Lanka's foreign ministry had said 40 of the victims were foreign nationals.
AFP / Jewel SAMADSri Lanka has deployed thousands of troops -- including here outside St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, one of the blast sites -- as it hunts for suspects in the Easter attacks
Indian intelligence shared several specific warnings about plans for attacks with Sri Lankan authorities, an Indian source told AFP, but the information was not given to ministers, in what Colombo has called a "major" lapse.
Authorities are now in a desperate hunt for suspects linked to the bloodshed. On Thursday, police released the names and photos of three men and three women they want to question.
Tensions remained high, with the capital on alert over rumours of fresh bombs, but police said there had been no credible reports of explosive devices.
Sri Lanka's Catholic church nonetheless suspended all public services and closed churches "on the advice of security forces".
Private burials were still to be carried out.
President Maithripala Sirisena met Thursday with political party leaders and announced he would revive a military-police body last used during the country's fight against Tamil insurgents to coordinate operations after the bombings.
In the past, the joint operations command was headed by a senior military figure and included members of the military as well as police and intelligence.
- Visa-free plan halted -
Security forces using special powers granted under a state of emergency have arrested 16 more suspects, bringing the total in custody to 74.
The army, navy and air force poured more than 3,000 additional troops onto the streets to help police.
Authorities have banned drone flights and the government suspended plans to implement visa-free travel for tourists from 39 countries -- including European Union nations, Australia and the United States -- for six months from May 1.
AFP / ISHARA S. KODIKARASri Lanka's deputy defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene has acknowledged 'a major lapse in the sharing of information'
Sri Lanka's police chief warned on April 11 of possible suicide bombings against churches by local Islamist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ), citing information from a foreign intelligence agency.
India warned Sri Lanka several times of possible attacks, based on information from suspects arrested in India over links to the Islamic State group, a source close to the Indian investigation told AFP.
But that information was not shared with top ministers in Sri Lanka, the government has conceded.
"It was a major lapse in the sharing of information," deputy defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene said Wednesday.
Sirisena, who is also defence and law and order minister, has pledged to make "major changes in the leadership of the security forces.
Fernando was the first to go, telling Sirisena in a letter that he was "accepting responsibility and resigning," a defence ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Additional resignations were expected.
Investigators are still piecing information together about the attacks and those involved, with officials revealing one attacker had studied in Britain and did post-graduate studies in Australia before returning to Sri Lanka.
Wijewardene said most of the assailants were "well-educated and come from middle, upper-middle class families, so they are financially quite independent."
- FBI investigating -
AFP / Jewel SAMADSecurity remained tight at the churches targeted in Sri Lanka
Experts say the bombings had many of the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
An FBI team on the ground is helping with the investigation.
Among the suspects unaccounted for is NTJ leader Zahran Hashim, who appeared to be among eight people seen in a video released Tuesday by IS.
Officials said it was still unclear whether Hashim was among the suicide attackers or had escaped.
In all, nine people are believed to have blown themselves up on Sunday, either during attacks or when police attempted to arrest them.
Among them were two Muslim brothers, sons of a wealthy Colombo spice trader who is now in custody. The brothers blew themselves up at the Shangri-La and the Cinnamon Grand hotels.
The Kingsbury hotel in the capital was also hit, along with three churches. A fourth attack on a hotel failed, authorities said. The would-be attacker was followed back to a Colombo guest house, where he blew himself up, killing two people.
Two more people -- a man and a woman -- blew themselves up at another location as security forces launched a raid, killing three police, sources said.
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