Sri Lankan President Maithrapala Sirisena announced Monday that they have banned face covering and burqa in public following the attacks last Sunday that killed at least 253 people.

He said he was using an emergency law to impose the ban from Monday.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that crucial information about any potential danger in the country was not passed to him. Wickremesinghe argued the fact that he was unaware of the warnings meant he did not need to step down from his position.

"If we had any inkling, and we had not taken action, I would have handed in my resignation immediately," he said. "But what do you do when you are out of the loop?"

Sri Lankan police chief Pujith Jayasundara and top defense ministry official Hemasiri Fernando have both resigned over the bombings.

ILKHA