Sri Lanka admits ‘major security lapse’ after bombings

Sri Lanka failed to stop massively deadly bombings in the country on Sunday due to a “major lapse” in the sharing of intelligence already available to authorities, the country’s deputy defense minister has acknowledged, as the death toll from the attacks rises to 359.

Deputy Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said at a press conference on Wednesday that the government had to admit its failure to act on intelligence made available in advance of the bombings, which targeted churches and luxury hotels in the capital, Colombo, and two other cities and also wounded some 500 people.

“It was a major lapse in the sharing of information,” the deputy minister said. “The government has to take responsibility.”

The performance of Sri Lanka’s security apparatus was quickly questioned as reports said the country had been alerted about potential bombings weeks before the attacks on Sunday.

According to reports, India had passed on “unusually specific” intelligence in the weeks before the attacks, some of it from a Daesh suspect in its custody. Separately, citing sources with direct knowledge of the matter, Reuters reported on Tuesday that intelligence officials in India had contacted and tipped off their Sri Lankan counterparts two hours before the first attack to warn them about a specific threat to churches.

Sri Lanka’s own police chief had also 10 days before the attacks warned of a security threat against churches and the Indian high commission in Colombo.

Reports said on Wednesday that the president had asked police chief and defense secretary to resign.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, the president pledged to "completely restructure the police and security forces in the coming weeks."

“I expect to change the heads of defense establishments within next 24 hours,” Sirisena said. “The security officials who got the intelligence report from a foreign nation did not share it with me. Appropriate actions would have been taken. I have decided to take stern action against these officials.”

Meanwhile, Lakshman Kiriella, who is Sri Lanka’s minister of the public, said on Wednesday that top intelligence officials had withheld the intelligence information “purposefully.”

The government has blamed a small group known as the Nations Thawahid Jaman (NTJ).

Wijewardene, the deputy defense minister, said the leader of the group had “committed suicide” at hotel Shangri-La — one of the hotels hit on Sunday.

But the NTJ has not claimed responsibility for the bombings.

Instead, Daesh has. The terror outfit released footage of eight men whom it said had carried out the attacks in Sri Lanka. The video could not be independently verified, and Sri Lankan officials said they were investigating it.

SS