Britain warns against travel to Sri Lanka
BRITISH travellers have been urged to avoid Sri Lanka as it is feared suspects linked to the Easter Sunday attacks may mount further bombings.
The Foreign Office warned Britons against all but essential travel to the popular tourist destination and the 8,000 UK visitors currently in the country were urged to keep a low profile, avoid crowded public places and remain vigilant.
Ranil Wickremesinghe, the prime minister, said some of the accomplices involved in bombing three churches and four hotels remain at large and “may go out for a suicide attack”.
Thousands of extra security forces were posted on to the streets of Colombo as they checked vehicles passing through the capital.
Drone flights were banned and the government suspended plans to implement visa-free travel for tourists from 39 countries, including EU nations, Australia and the US.
Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, advised tourists against “all but essential travel” to Sri Lanka following the “horrific attacks”. He said he hoped the situation “will return to normal very soon and that the Sri Lankan tourism industry is able to get back on its feet”.
More than 200,000 British nationals visited the country in 2017, making up nearly one in 10 of all foreign tourists. It also has a large expat population of 10,000 Britons.
The fringe National Thowheed Jamath extremist group has been accused of the bombings with support from Isil.
Hemasiri Fernando, Sri Lanka’s defence secretary, yesterday resigned as the government faced a backlash over intelligence failures ahead of the blasts.
Indian security services shared several specific warnings about plans for imminent attacks on churches with Sri Lanka but the information was not given to ministers, in what Colombo has called a “major” lapse.
Security forces used state of emergency powers to arrest another 16 suspects overnight, bringing the total in custody to 74.
Officials last night revised down the death toll by more than 100, saying 253 had died rather than more than 350.