Sri Lanka 2019 Easter Sunday bombings orchestrated by e spy chief who âdirected Islamic extremistsâ: Minister Wijepala
Sri Lanka's public security minister told Parliament on Wednesday that the country's former intelligence chief had orchestrated the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, marking the first
Sri Lanka's public security minister told Parliament on Wednesday that the country's former intelligence chief had orchestrated the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, marking the first official allegation directly linking him to the bombings that claimed 279 lives, including 11 Indians. Minister Ananda Wijepala said Major General Suresh Sallay, who was arrested in February on charges of "aiding and abetting" the attacks, had allegedly selected a Catholic church as one of the targets. The coordinated bombings, considered the deadliest terror attack against civilians in Sri Lanka's history, targeted three luxury hotels in the capital, two Roman Catholic churches, and an evangelical Protestant church near Colombo. "Investigations have revealed that Retired Major General Tuan Suresh Sallay conspired with and strategically directed Islamic extremists until they carried out the attacks. Just three weeks prior to the attack, Sallay met Muslim men to obtain details of the location and the congregation," Wijepala, according to AFP.
Sallay has rejected the allegations through his lawyer, maintaining that he had no role in the attacks. According to Wijepala, Sallay was admitted to hospital on Sunday after beginning a hunger strike while being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Opposition supporters have staged protests in the capital, calling for his release from detention. Authorities have also obtained court orders barring former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa from leaving the country following Sallay's questioning. Sallay was appointed chief of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), Sri Lanka's primary intelligence agency, in 2019 shortly after Rajapaksa assumed the presidency. Before leading the SIS, he served as head of the country's military intelligence unit. British broadcaster Channel 4 reported in 2023 that Sallay had connections with the Islamist militants responsible for the Easter Sunday suicide bombings and had allegedly met them before the attacks took place.
The report cited a whistleblower who claimed that Sallay allowed the attacks to go ahead in an effort to influence the presidential election later that year in favour of Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Also Read | Sri Lanka beats the West Indies by 41 runs in the 1st ODI as Nissanka scores 79 Just two days after the bombings, Rajapaksa announced his presidential bid and later secured a landslide victory in the November election after campaigning on a promise to eliminate Islamist extremism. While the Criminal Investigation Department has not formally identified Rajapaksa as a suspect, official sources indicated that investigators are expected to question him in the near future. Sri Lanka Lanka court directs medical examination to verify Sallay's torture claim A Sri Lankan court on Wednesday directed a five-member panel of judicial experts to examine allegations that former state intelligence chief Suresh Sallay was subjected to torture while in detention, as per PTI.
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