Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena vows to block Easter terror attacks probe, sources claim

A ministerial source said Sirisena has refused to allow any police, military or intelligence personnel to testify before an investigative committee

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A Sri Lankan soldier stands guard at the entrance of the Cinnamon Grand hotel lobby in Colombo. Photo: AFP

Published: 12:25pm, 8 Jun 2019Updated: 10:41pm, 8 Jun 2019

Sri Lanka’s president has sacked the national intelligence chief and will not cooperate with a parliamentary investigation into security lapses before the Easter suicide bombings, officials said Saturday.

Maithripala Sirisena summoned an emergency meeting of his cabinet on Friday night to oppose the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) probing the April 21 attacks that killed 258 people and wounded nearly 500.

Chief of National Intelligence Sisira Mendis was sacked after testifying to the inquiry last week that the attacks could have been averted.

He also said the president had failed to hold regular security meetings to assess the threat from Islamic radicals, who carried out the bombings on three hotels and three churches.

Sirisena’s office did not give a reason for the sacking. Halfway through the testimony, the live telecast of the proceedings was stopped on the president’s orders, official sources said.

The scene after a bomb blast inside St Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka on April 21, 2019. Photo: Reuters

A ministerial source said Sirisena has refused to allow any police, military or intelligence personnel to testify before the committee.

“The cabinet meeting ended inconclusively,” the source said on condition of anonymity. “The government did not agree to suspend the PSC either.”