Sri Lanka's police chief made a nationwide alert 10 days before Sunday's bomb attacks in the country that suicide bombers planned to hit "prominent churches", according to the warning seen by AFP.
Sri Lanka Blasts: 10 Days Before, Police Chief Had Warned Of Suicide Attack Threat
At least 137 people were killed in six bomb blast attacks in Sri Lanka on Sunday that attacked Churches on the eve of Easter
Sri Lanka Blasts: 10 Days Before, Police Chief Had Warned Of Suicide Attack Threat
Sri Lanka Blasts: 10 Days Before, Police Chief Had Warned Of Suicide Attack Threat
Police chief Pujuth Jayasundara sent an intelligence warning to top officers on April 11 setting out the threat.
"A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama'ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo," said the alert.
The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that came to notice last year when it was linked to the vandalization of Buddhist statues.
At least 137 people were killed in six bomb attacks Sunday that included three churches.
The blasts targeted St Anthony's Church in Colombo, St Sebastian's Church in the western coastal town of Negombo and another church in the eastern town of Batticaloa around 8.45 a.m. (local time) as the Easter Sunday mass were in progress, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.
Three explosions were reported from the five-star hotels - the Shangri-La, the Cinnamon Grand and the Kingsbury. Foreigners and locals who were injured in hotel blasts were admitted to the Colombo General Hospital.
AFP
