PM Imran telephones Sri Lanka counterpart, condemns terror attacks

PM Imran telephones Sri Lanka counterpart, condemns terror attacks.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday telephoned his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe and strongly condemned the Easter terror attacks on churches and hotels.

The Prime Minister conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and profound prayers for the speedy recovery of the wounded. He said the people of Pakistan are deeply grieved over the loss of precious lives and stand with their Sri Lankan brethren at this hour of grief.

Being the worst sufferers of terrorism, we can feel the pain of our Sri Lankan brethren, the PM said.

He stated that terrorism knows no boundaries, no religion and threatens the peace of entire region and the world. Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and will continue to provide every possible support for elimination of this menace.

Imran Khan reiterated Pakistan’s offer of assistance to Sri Lanka towards counter terrorism measures.

The Interpol has announced to send a team of experts to Sri Lanka for interrogations of the blasts and the authorities have arrested 58 suspects so far, he added.

It is worth mentioning here that the death toll has risen to 360. Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena had announced to remove heads of security institutions within 24 hours and to take strict action against those officials who did not share the intelligence reports. 

SUSPECTS DETAINED

Sri Lankan security forces detained 18 new suspects in the Easter bombings as the government admitted Wednesday that "major" intelligence lapses had led to a failure to prevent the attacks.

The ISIS group’s claim of responsibility for Sunday’s strikes on three hotels and three churches increased pressure over ignored warnings of the bombings. The 18 new arrests were made in night-time raids using emergency powers, said police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera.

Fifty-eight people are now in custody and more arrests are expected in coming days, deputy defence minister Ruwan Wijewardene told a press conference.

The government has said more attacks are possible and in a sign of the heightened tensions, authorities carried out at least two controlled explosions of a suspect package and vehicle on Wednesday.

Wijewardene also gave new details on the bombers. One had studied in Britain and then did post-graduate studies in Australia before returning to Sri Lanka. Others were also believed to have travelled abroad, he told a press conference.

"Most of them are well-educated and come from middle, upper-middle class families, so they are financially quite independent and their families are quite stable financially, that is a worrying factor in this," the minister said.

Leadership cull

President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also defence and law and order minister, has pledged "major changes" to the security forces and police leadership.

Sri Lanka’s police chief issued a warning on April 11 that NTJ suicide bombings were possible and alerts had been given by a foreign intelligence agency.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has acknowledged the information was not passed to his office or other top ministers.

"It was a major lapse in the sharing of information," the deputy defence minister said. "The government has to take responsibility."

...with inputs from AFP