Sri Lanka has banned face coverings in public in a new bid by the government to ensure national security.
President Maithruipala Sisirsena announced an emergency law would come into effect on Monday, prohibiting the use of any face garment which "hinders identification".
The ban comes eight days after the Easter Sunday suicide bombings, which claimed the lives of more than 250 people in churches and hotels across the country.
Despite more than 150 arrests in connection with the attacks, Sri Lankan intelligence has warned that many more militants are still on the loose.
Authorities are also hunting for an estimated 140 followers of Islamic State, which has said it was involved in the bombings, and the country remains on high alert.
The niqab and burqa – face and body veils worn by Muslim women – were not specifically named in the new law.
However, Sri Lankan MPs proposed a ban on women wearing the burqa during a Cabinet meeting in the days following the bombings, saying it should be outlawed on security grounds.
Muslim clerics in the country have also asked women to avoid wearing face coverings, according to news outlet India Today.
In a nation of 21 million people, just under 10% are Muslim. Only a small number of women are believed to wear face veils.
Thousands of Sri Lankan troops stood guard on the streets over the weekend, protecting churches and mosques, despite Sunday church services being cancelled across the country as a safety precaution.
“We don’t want repetitions,” said archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, as he asked parishioners to stay home and worship there instead.
The archbishop himself, delivered a homily before members of the clergy and the country’s leaders in a small chapel at his Colombo residence.
“This is a time our hearts are tested by the great destruction that took place last Sunday,” he told his guests.
“This is a time questions – such as ‘does God truly love us, does He have compassion towards us? – can arise in human hearts.”
President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa all attended the Mass, in a rare show of unity.
Their political rivalry and a “major intelligence lapse” are blamed for a failure to act upon information received from foreign intelligence agencies, that could have helped prevent the atrocities.
