Sri Lanka Catholic churches halt public services over security fears

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) – Sri Lanka's Catholic churches suspended all public services over security fears on Thursday, as thousands of troops joined the hunt for suspects in deadly Easter bombings that killed nearly 360 people.

Security forces also made fresh arrests overnight over the attacks, as the government faced pressure over its failure to act on intelligence warnings about possible bombings.

Recriminations have flown since suicide bombers blew themselves up in luxury hotels and churches packed with Easter worshippers on Sunday.

The president has asked the police chief and top defense ministry bureaucrat to step down, though neither has done so yet.

Overnight, security forces using newly granted powers under the country's state of emergency arrested 16 more suspects in connection with the attacks.

Police have so far arrested 75 people but tensions remain high with several suspects unaccounted for.

A senior Catholic priest told AFP that all public services were being suspended and all churches closed "on the advice of security forces".

Private services for burials will still be carried out, but no public masses are scheduled.

Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said the army had increased its deployment by 1,300 to 6,300 overnight, with the navy and air force also deploying 2,000 more personnel.

Authorities also announced a ban on drone flights and suspended licenses issued to commercial operators with immediate effect.

The government has been on the defensive over revelations that specific warnings about an attack went ignored.

Sri Lanka's police chief warned on April 11 that suicide bombings against "prominent churches" by the local Islamist group National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) were possible, citing information from a foreign intelligence agency.

CNN reported that Indian intelligence services had passed on "unusually specific" information in the weeks before the attacks, some of it from an IS suspect in their custody.

But that information was not shared with the prime minister or other top ministers, the government has said.

"It was a major lapse in the sharing of information," deputy defense minister Ruwan Wijewardene conceded at a press conference on Wednesday.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who is also defense and law and order minister, pledged Tuesday to make "major changes in the leadership of the security forces in the next 24 hours".