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Sri Lanka attacks: president says civil war inquiries left country vulnerable
Source: The Guardian and agencies
Sri Lanka attacks: president says civil war inquiries left country vulnerable
Maithripala Sirisena says investigations into alleged abuses weakened armed forces
Michael Safi in Colombo and agencies
Fri 26 Apr 2019 10.16 BST Last modified on Fri 26 Apr 2019 10.47 BST
Sri Lanka’s president has said investigations into civil war-era human rights abuses weakened the country’s security apparatus and left it vulnerable to last Sunday’s suicide bomb attacks, as members of the government continued to try to diffuse blame for the attacks.
Maithripala Sirisena told Sri Lankan media outlets on Friday morning that there were up to 140 supporters of Islamic State in the country and that about 70 had been arrested.
“I will stamp out Isis from Sri Lanka,” he said. “Our police and security forces are capable of achieving this.”
Police said Mohamed Zahran Hashim, an extremist preacher who appeared in a video this week pledging allegiance to Islamic State, was among the attackers. They said he detonated his bomb in the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo on Sunday morning.
Sirisena said a “highly descriptive warning” about the impending attack was issued by a friendly nation – understood to be India – on 4 April, but he reiterated that he was never told about it.
-snip-
Maithripala Sirisena says investigations into alleged abuses weakened armed forces
Michael Safi in Colombo and agencies
Fri 26 Apr 2019 10.16 BST Last modified on Fri 26 Apr 2019 10.47 BST
Sri Lanka’s president has said investigations into civil war-era human rights abuses weakened the country’s security apparatus and left it vulnerable to last Sunday’s suicide bomb attacks, as members of the government continued to try to diffuse blame for the attacks.
Maithripala Sirisena told Sri Lankan media outlets on Friday morning that there were up to 140 supporters of Islamic State in the country and that about 70 had been arrested.
“I will stamp out Isis from Sri Lanka,” he said. “Our police and security forces are capable of achieving this.”
Police said Mohamed Zahran Hashim, an extremist preacher who appeared in a video this week pledging allegiance to Islamic State, was among the attackers. They said he detonated his bomb in the Shangri-La hotel in Colombo on Sunday morning.
Sirisena said a “highly descriptive warning” about the impending attack was issued by a friendly nation – understood to be India – on 4 April, but he reiterated that he was never told about it.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/26/sri-lanka-attacks-president-says-civil-war-inquiries-left-country-vulnerable