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No official request yet for UK help on Easter probe

22 Jul 2022

BY Buddhika Samaraweera The Ministry of Public Security has stated that a request should be made at the diplomatic level for the assistance of the police authorities of the UK to be sought in order to complete the investigation into the Easter Sunday terror attacks of 21 April 2019, as stated by President Ranil Wickremesinghe. When contacted by The Morning, a Ministry official said: “As of now, Wickremesinghe has only made a statement that he wishes to obtain the support of the UK police authorities. If a final decision is reached and it is decided to get their support, a request should be made for it at the diplomatic level. After that, the Sri Lanka Police will also intervene in the relevant proceedings.” Making a statement, Wickremesinghe said on Monday (18) that he plans to obtain the assistance of the police authorities of the UK in order to complete the investigation into the Easter Sunday terror attacks, as the lack of a proper investigation has meant that this issue is yet to be fully resolved.  “One problem is the question we all are having about the Easter Sunday attacks. None of those procedures have been finalised yet. I am dedicated to resolving these problems. We don’t need to continue with these problems forever. We must ensure that this is brought to an end, and there should be a full-scale impartial review of the material that is available. If everyone is willing, I would like to get the help of the UK and their police authorities. They are the best that we can find, in addition to the people from Sri Lanka who will be working on this issue. It is the responsibility of the Government to finalise this matter without any further delay,” he said. However, hours after his statement, the Catholic church accused Wickremesinghe of trying to gain Presidential power on the “blood and flesh” of the people who died in the said terror attacks, and on the “sorrow and tears” of the people who are seeking justice for the same. Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday (19), National Catholic Social Communications Centre Director Rev. Cyril Gamini Fernando said: “Wickremesinghe, when he was the Prime Minister at the time of the bombings, could have obtained the support of the Metropolitan Police and conducted an independent investigation through an international investigation team. However, he did not do it at that time. Now he says that the investigations should be carried out independently with the support of an international investigation team. We do not believe in him and this is merely cheating.” On Easter Sunday, 21 April 2019, three churches (the St. Sebastian’s Church in Katuwapitiya, the St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade, and the Zion Church in Batticaloa) and three luxury hotels in Colombo (the Cinnamon Grand, The Kingsbury, and the Shangri-La) were targeted in a series of co-ordinated Islamist terrorist suicide bombings. Later that day, another two bomb explosions took place at a house in Dematagoda and the Tropical Inn Lodge in Dehiwala. A total of 267 people were killed in the bombings, including at least 45 foreign nationals, while at least 500 were injured. All eight of the suicide bombers in the attacks were Sri Lankan citizens associated with the National Thowheed Jama’ath founded by the suicide bomber at the Shangri-La hotel, Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Zahran alias Zahran Hashim.  


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