Security situation in country is back to normal ; says Sri Lankan Army Chief

Sri Lankan army chief Lt General Mahesh Senanayake has assured that security situation in the country is back to normal and 85 percent of suspects linked to Easter Sunday attacks, are under arrest.

Talking to our Prasar Bharti correspondent in Colombo, the army chief said that the security operations carried out by armed forces have been successful and he will like the emergency provisions to be lifted within a month.

General Senanayake said that nobody in the armed forces were not informed of intelligence inputs about probable attacks on Easter Sunday and called for better coordination among security and intelligence setup.

The army chief also sought cooperation of India and friendly nations in intelligence sharing and tackling radicalism in the region.

He said five Srilankans had traveled abroad to join fight with Islamic State in the past and some of IS fighters from Maldives may have links to the attacks.

The army chief also revealed that main master mind of attacks, Zahran Hashim is believed to have traveled to India and they are looking onto other details.

He said one of the suicide bombers had traveled to Syria in the past.

At least 258 people including 45 foreigners were killed in the attacks on churches and hotels which was carried out by local groups with the support of Islamic state.