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The Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka in 2019, which claimed around 270 lives, finally prompted President Ranil Wickremesinghe to initiate an inquiry into why prior intelligence from Indian sources regarding the attacks was disregarded.
This move follows the revelations of the final report from the Commission of Inquiry released on January 31, 2021, which underscored the existence of advance warnings provided by Indian intelligence agencies and other sources.
The Committee of Inquiry, led by retired high court judge A.N.J. De Alwis, has been granted extensive powers by President Wickremesinghe to thoroughly investigate the actions taken by the State Intelligence Service (SIS), Chief of National Intelligence (CNI), and other relevant authorities in response to the prior intelligence.
Additionally, the committee will scrutinize the circumstances surrounding the Directorate of Military Intelligence’s (DMI) initial assessment linking the killing of two police officers in Vavunathivu to the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam), a belief held for four months before suspects with alleged links to the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) were identified.
With access to the final report of the Commission of Inquiry and supported by a Senior Assistant Secretary to the President as Secretary, the committee aims to submit its findings and recommendations to President Wickremesinghe by September 15, 2024.
The 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, orchestrated by ISIS suicide bombers targeting three star hotels and three churches in Colombo, resulted in the tragic loss of 270 lives, including at least 45 foreign nationals, and left over 500 others injured.
