Sri Lankan police looking for 140 with Islamic State links: President


FE Team | Published: April 26, 2019 12:56:40 | Updated: April 27, 2019 17:05:26


Police keep watch outside the family home of a bomber suspect where an explosion occurred during a Special Task Force raid, following a string of suicide attacks on churches and luxury hotels, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, April 25, 2019. Reuters

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said on Friday police are looking for 140 people believed to have links with the Islamic State group over the Easter Sunday attacks on churches and hotels that killed at least 253 people.

Sirisena told reporters some Sri Lankan youths had been involved with the extremist group since 2013, and that top defence and police chiefs had not shared information with him about the impending attacks, according to Reuters news agency.

He also blamed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government for weakening the intelligence system by focusing on the prosecution of military officers over alleged war crimes during a decade-long civil war with Tamil separatists.

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