Sri Lankan PM apologizes over failure to protect victims on Easter
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe on Friday took collective responsibility and apologized for failure to protect victims of Sunday attacks which killed 253 people including 40 foreigners.
Prime minister statement came as President Maithripala Sirisena told a press conference that highly descriptive information was given by a friendly nation on 4th of this month and it included targets and methods of the Sunday attack.
He said until the 12th of April, this information was passed around and action will be taken against all officials who neglected their duties.
Sirisena assured that security forces are capable of wiping out terrorism from the country and restore normalcy soon as crackdown on suspects behind the attacks continue. Seven people were arrested along with explosives and suicide vests in eastern province Friday evening as situation remain tense over further attacks. Night curfew will be in place from 10 PM to 4 AM.
President said there are around 140 suspects believed to be linked to Islamic State in the country adding many of them have been arrested and a hunt is on for the rest. He said the armed forces and intelligence setup was weakened over past years and it was one of the main reasons for his rift with the government.
Sirisena added that top intelligence officers were harassed and he had to even send a few on overseas appointments to help them. The President called upon the Sri Lankan people to not look at the Muslim community as terrorists and they must protect them.
