The former head of Sri Lanka’s State Intelligence Services (SIS) has been arrested on suspicion of colluding with Islamist terrorists in reference to a bombing campaign that killed 279 people on Easter Sunday 2019.
Three churches and three hotels were targeted by the suicide bombs. In addition to those killed, over 500 people were injured within the attacks.
Maj Gen Suresh Sallay was a brigadier in 2019 and as a member of the safety forces it was his task to stop terror attacks. He now stands accused of aiding and abetting the deadliest terror attack in his country’s history.
While not a Muslim himself, it’s alleged that Sallay attended meetings with members of an extremist group linked to the attacks where the potential for fomenting instability ahead of national elections was allegedly discussed, the suggestion being that this might profit the political profession of former Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Rajapaksa announced his candidacy a couple of days after the bombings, vowing to root out extremism. Following his victory within the elections, Sallay was promoted to go of the SIS.
According to The Telegraph, Sajeewa Medawatte, the senior deputy inspector general of police, said that there could be a “lengthy investigation” into the allegations.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church, Father Cyril Gamini Fernando, told the AFP news agency, “What we’d like is the reality behind the Easter attacks.”
He added, “We wish to see justice for all of the victims.”
Some 45 foreign nationals were killed within the attacks, amongst them Anita Nicholson, a British lawyer, and her two children, Alexander, 14 and Annabel, 11. Other Britons killed were IT director Lorraine Campbell, retired firefighter Bill Harrop and his wife Dr Sally Bradley.
The 2019 attacks represent the deadliest Islamist terror attack ever to happen in Sri Lanka. While many terror attacks have occurred in Sri Lanka’s recent history, they were nearly all the time the work of the “Tamil Tigers”, who were militarily defeated in 2009 following over 1 / 4 of a century of civil war.
