Reuters in Dawn, April 24th, 2019
COLOMBO: Sri Lankan intelligence officials were tipped off about an imminent attack by Islamist militants hours before a series of suicide bombings killed more than 300 people on Easter Sunday, three sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Three churches and four hotels were hit by suicide bombers on Sunday morning, killing 321 people and wounding 500, sending shockwaves through an island state that has been relatively peaceful since a civil war ended a decade ago.Indian intelligence officers contacted their Sri Lankan counterparts two hours before the first attack to warn of a specific threat on churches, one Sri Lankan defence source and an Indian government source said.
Another Sri Lankan defence source said a warning came “hours before” the first strike.
One of the Sri Lankan sources said a warning was also sent by the Indians on Saturday night. The Indian government source said similar messages had been given to Sri Lankan intelligence agents on April 4 and April 20.
Sri Lanka’s presidency and the Indian foreign ministry both did not respond to requests for comment.
Sri Lanka’s failure to effectively respond to a looming Islamist threat will fuel fears that a rift between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena is undermining national security.
The president fired Wickremesinghe last October over political differences, only to reinstate him weeks later under pressure from the Supreme Court.https://www.dawn.com/news/1478069/indian-intelligence-warned-of-threat-hours-before-sri-lanka-suicide-attacks
I wasn’t aware of threat, says Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena
by Meera Srinivasan in The Hindu, Apr 24, 2019
Colombo: “The country’s security apparatus will be restructured in the coming days, with key leadership changes in ‘24 hours’,” Mr. Sirisena has said.
President Maithripala Sirisena has said he was not aware of likely bomb attacks in the country, though Sri Lankan security agencies had received prior intelligence, including from India, on the imminent threat.
The information received from the State intelligence agencies was not passed on to him by relevant officials, said President Sirisena, who helms the Law and Order, and Defence ministries. “If they had done so, I would have taken immediate action. I have decided to take strict action against those who failed in their duty,” he said, addressing the nation via television on Tuesday night. The country’s security apparatus will be restructured in the coming days, with key leadership changes in “24 hours”.
Following Sunday’s serial bombings, which killed more than three hundred people, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe too had said that he was not kept updated of the imminent security risk, though intelligence agencies knew of it.
Meanwhile, responding to Sri Lanka’s claim that the Easter Sunday attacks were a retaliation to the New Zealand Christchurch mosque attack in March, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said that her government was not aware of any intelligence. “We haven’t received anything officially nor have we received any intelligence reports that corroborate what has been said in Sri Lanka,” PM Ardern had said. https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/i-wasnt-aware-of-threat-says-sri-lankan-president-maithripala-sirisena/article26929025.ece?homepage=true
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