SRI LANKAN President Maithripala Sirisena declared a state of emergency today amid fears that anti-Muslim attacks in several central hill towns could spread.

Details of the emergency decree were not immediately announced and it was unclear how it would affect life on the island, where Buddhist-Muslim tensions have flared in recent years with the growth of extremist Buddhist organisations.

The areas where the violence erupted yesterday, outside the town of Kandy, remained under curfew today, with soldiers and police patrolling the streets and no-one allowed outside except for in emergencies.