Social media blocked again in Sri Lanka as worst unrest erupts since Easter bombings

Sri Lanka reimposed a ban on social media on Monday as religious tension flared up after an intimidating Facebook post triggered attacks on mosques and Muslim-owned businesses in the worst unrest since Easter Sunday bombings which killed nearly 260 people.

The blockade comes a day after Sri Lankan police imposed curfew in the country's western coastal town of Chilaw where a mob attacked a mosque and some shops owned by Muslims in a dispute that started on a Facebook post by a Muslim shop owner.

The author of the Facebook post, identified as 38-year-old Abdul Hameed Mohamed Hasmar, wrote: "Don't laugh more, 1 day u will cry".

The Muslim shopkeeper's comment was taken by local Christians as a warning of an impending attack.

The blockade of Facebook and WhatsApp has been imposed form midnight following violent incidents between the minority Muslim and majority Sinhalese communities, officials said.

Late in the evening on Sunday, the unrest spread to Kuliyapitiya where a mosque and a few .