IWK

Sri Lanka Easter bombing toll goes up to 359

Written by IWK Bureau | Apr 24, 2019 5:25:39 AM

Sri Lankan authorities on Wednesday confirmed that Easter Sunday suicide bombings toll has touched 359 which includes several foreigners.

So far 58 suspects have been arrested from different areas of the island, Police Spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekara said. The Islamic State terror group (IS) on Tuesday claimed responsibility for the attacks. 

At least 18 more suspects were taken into custody in the early hours of Wednesday as security operations continued, Xinhua news agency quoted Gunasekara as saying.

Four walkie-talkies and a motorcycle were also recovered by the police from a house in Warakapola, around 56 km away from here, he added. 

At least 34 foreign nationals were among those killed, the country's Foreign Ministry said.

Sri Lanka's President announces security shakeup

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena said on Tuesday that he would move quickly to restructure country's intelligence and security apparatus in response to a failure to act on warnings received ahead of the Easter Sunday attacks, which left more than 359 people dead.

"I will completely restructure the police and security forces in the coming weeks. I expect to change the heads of defence establishments within next 24 hours," Sirisena said in a televised speech, the Efe news reported.

"People question why action had not been taken despite the availability of intelligence support from a friendly neighbouring country (India)," the President said. 

"The security officials who got the intelligence report did not share it with me. Appropriate actions would have been taken," he said.

"I have decided to take stern action against these officials," he said.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena (Front) addresses the General Debate of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, on Sept. 25, 2018

The attacks began at 8.45 a.m. Sunday with six coordinated explosions at three luxury hotels in Colombo and three churches across the country as they were holding Easter services.

Another blast in the afternoon left two dead in a small hotel near Dehiwala Zoo, around 10km south of the capital.

The eighth explosion killed three police officers at a residential complex in Dematagoda.

Most of the attacks were carried out by suicide bombers.

The death toll stands at 321, while 521 others were wounded.

The Islamic State said Tuesday via its Amaq news outlet that it was responsible for the attack, but without offering any evidence. The terror group has made a series of false claims in recent years.

Later, however, Amaq disseminated a video purporting to show the Sri Lankan perpetrators swearing loyalty to IS and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi.

The footage features eight people standing in front of a black IS banner. Seven of the figures are masked, while the eighth, whose face is visible, administers the oath in Arabic.