RELIGIOUS violence flared again today in central Sri Lanka despite a state of emergency, with Buddhist mobs sweeping through towns and villages, burning Muslim homes and businesses, and leaving victims barricaded inside mosques.

The government ordered popular social media networks blocked in an attempt to stop the violence from spreading and thousands of police and soldiers spread out across the worst-hit areas.

The police also ordered a curfew across much of the region for a third straight day, trying to calm the situation.