Sri Lanka's ex-president Sirisena 'should be prosecuted', probe into 2019 bombings finds

Following a probe into the series of coordinated Easter bombings in 2019 that claimed 279 lives, investigators have found that the ex-Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena ‘should be prosecuted’ on grounds of negligence, along with his intelligence chiefs. A presidential commission of inquiry report, Tuesday, claimed that the Indian Intelligence had warned officials about the suicide bombing attacks following a tip-off at least 17 days earlier, and Sirisena, who was likely informed by his intelligence officers, refrained to heed the warnings. According to local reports, the commission was set up at the request of Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, leader of Sri Lanka’s top Roman Catholic Church. At least 440 witnesses were summoned to investigate the attack, whose responsibility was later claimed by the Islamic extremists, who targeted 3 churches and 4 hotels in the capital, Colombo, on Apr 21, 2019.

Sirisena, who was discharged from the presidential seat, last year, is being held responsible for the deadly bombings in the report handed by the commission to the Sri Lankan parliament on February 23, local reports confirmed. The attackers had unleashed terror on the Christian churches that injured more than 400, according to police officers, the Colombo Hospital, and St. Sebastian Church's statement to local press.

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One of the deadliest attacks

As many as eight explosions rocked Sri Lanka in the island’s one of the deadliest attacks, all just a few miles apart. In a statement issued following the terror attacks, Sri Lanka’s defense ministry revealed, that the explosive devices were detonated by suicide bombers, and 11 international tourists were among the casualties. At least 2 that were killed held dual citizenship from the US and the UK, as per the reports. The then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had condemned the bomb blasts saying that many US citizens were harmed, and several were among those that were killed. 

Currently, the ruling party’s legislators in Sri Lanka’s parliament, the former President Sirisena had denied any knowledge of the attacks. Further, he made no comments on the outcome of the probe. The commission also charged the ex-president’s chief of intelligence, Nilantha Jayawardena, for negligence and failure to act to prevent the terror attack on the island nation despite Indian intelligence’s warnings communicated several days ahead since the incident. The report alleged, Sri Lanka’s ex-leader "diluted the weight of the intelligence" from India. 

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