Sri Lanka to probe allegations of intelligence complicity in 2019 bombings
- The president will appoint a judge-led committee to investigate claims intelligence officials had a hand in the Easter Sunday bombings
- 269 people died in the attacks by Islamic militants on churches and hotels. A British TV documentary has prompted the latest investigation
Sri Lanka’s president said on Sunday that he will appoint a committee chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge to investigate allegations made in a British television report that the South Asian country’s intelligence was complicit in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 269 people.
The attacks, which included simultaneous suicide bombings, targeted three churches and three tourist hotels. The dead included 42 foreigners from 14 countries.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s decision to appoint a committee headed by a judge to investigate claims that Sri Lankan intelligence had a hand in the bombings carried out by Islamic militants came under pressure from opposition lawmakers, religious leaders, activists and the victims’ relatives.
They say that previous probes failed to reveal the truth behind the bombings.
The committee’s primary mission is to investigate the “serious allegations recently brought to light by Britain’s Channel 4 in a broadcast video”, the president’s office said in a statement on Sunday. It said that the “allegations have added fuel to the fire”.
03:02
Sri Lankans call for justice on fourth anniversary of 2019 Easter bombings
The statement said that a former attorney general “has made similar claims, suggesting the existence of a mastermind behind the devastating Easter bomb attack”. It said that a parliamentary committee would separately investigate and “address these concerns comprehensively”.
