The death toll in the Sri Lankan massacre has jumped to almost 300 with around 500 people injured.

News agency Reuters has said local police have confirmed 290 people have been killed following a series of devastating explosions which ripped through luxury hotels and churches holding Easter services on the island nation on Sunday.

The coordinated Easter Sunday bombings that ripped through Sri Lankan churches and luxury hotels, were carried out by seven suicide bombers from a domestic militant group named National Thowfeek Jamaath, a government official said Monday. So far Sri Lankan police have arrested 24 people in a series of raids. 

Sri Lanka Association NZ, Palitha De Silva, told Tim Dower the events have been very traumatic. 

"There are a lot of people here who know of people who have been killed or injured, so it's been very traumatic. We have a very strong Christian community with us here, so it's been a really difficult time."

He said a ceremony is planned in Lower Hutt to help the community heal. 

De Silva said Sri Lanka has been a relatively calm country for a number of years, which makes this attack even more shocking.

"The Sri Lankan Government has slowly started weaving people together. This is nothing to do with the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. This is a radical group and the way it happened and the multitude of locations clearly showed they had support from other countries and this sort of networking is not known in Sri Lanka in a particular group at the moment."