'Some intelligence officers were aware of this incident': Sri Lanka Minister on serial bomb blasts

The deadliest violence attack in Sri Lanka that claimed the lives of at least 290 people and wounded around 500 could have been averted if the authorities had timely detected the intelligence inputs.

The deadliest violence attack in Sri Lanka that claimed the lives of at least 290 people and wounded around 500 could have been averted if the authorities had timely detected the intelligence inputs.

Sri Lankan police investigated and said that the intelligence community failed to track down the possible suicide attacks before the bombing in Sri Lanka. 

Sri Lanka's Telecommunication Minister 'Harin Fernando' tweeted, 'Some intelligence officers were aware of this incidence. Therefore there was a delay in action. Serious action needs to be taken as to why this warning was ignored.' 

Even, the minister for national integration 'Mano Ganeshan' said that within the ministry the security officers were warned about the possibility of two suicide bombers might target politicians.

Ruwan Wijewardena the Defence Minister of Sri Lanka described the blast as a religious extremists terror attack.
 

At least six Indians were killed in the serial bomb blasts that ravaged Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday in the island country's bloodiest day since the civil war ended a decade ago. 

People from at least eight countries were killed in the series of attacks on churches and hotels, including citizens of Britain, India, Denmark, China, Turkey, Netherlands and Portugal.

The US said 'several' Americans were among the dead.

The Sri Lankan government had imposed a curfew and blocked most of the social media platforms to curtail the spread of false information.

Fearing the possibility of a massacre, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe vowed to 'vest all necessary powers with the defence forces' to take action against those responsible.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Colombo said that the Sri Lankan government should 'mercilessly' punish those who are responsible for this act, 'because only animals can behave like that.'  
 

The bloodshed in the church attack recalled the bad memories of Sri Lanka's 26-year old civil war where the ethnic Tamil, called the 'Tamil Tigers' fought for independence from the Buddhist-majority country.

Out of Sri Lanka's total population of around 22 million, 70 per cent are Buddhist, 12.6 per cent Hindu, 9.7 per cent Muslim and 7.6 per cent Christian, according to the country's 2012 census.

Sri Lanka with 70 per cent Buddhist has recorded several cases of harassment of the Christian Tamils, but nothing ever happened as big as what happened on this Sunday.

 

Pope Francis at the end of the traditional Easter expressed his condolences to Sri Lanka and said, 'I want to express my loving closeness to the Christian community targeted while they were gathered in prayer and all the victims of such cruel violence'.
 

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena will be announcing a nationwide emergency from midnight on Monday following Easter Day blasts.

Meanwhile, the government has lent credence to a controversial letter saying local outfit National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) is believed to be responsible for the Easter Sunday bomb attacks in the country.