Officials failed to heed warnings of attacks

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan officials failed to heed warnings from intelligence agencies about the threat of an attack by the domestic militant group National Thowheeth Jama’ath that officials blame for the Easter Sunday bombings that killed more than 200 people, the country’s health minister said.

International intelligence agencies warned of the attacks several times starting April 4, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne said.

On April 9, the defence ministry wrote to the police chief with intelligence that included the group’s name, he said.

On April 11, police wrote to the heads of security of the judiciary and diplomatic security division, Senaratne said.

It was not immediately clear what action, if any, was taken in response. Authorities said little was known about the group except that its name had appeared in intelligence reports.

Because of political dysfunction within the government, Seranatne said, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his Cabinet were kept in the dark about the intelligence until after the attacks.

All of the bombers were Sri Lankan citizens, but authorities suspect foreign links, Senaratne said. Earlier, Ariyananda Welianga, a government forensic crime investigator, said an analysis of the attackers’ body parts made clear that they were suicide bombers. He said most of the attacks were carried out by individual bombers, with two at Colombo’s Shangri-La Hotel.

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan police investigating the bombings are examining reports that intelligence agencies had warnings of possible attacks, officials said yesterday.

Two government ministers have alluded to intelligence failures. Telecommunications Minister Harin Fernando tweeted, “Some intelligence officers were aware of this incidence. Therefore there was a delay in action. Serious action needs to be taken as to why this warning was ignored.”

He said his father had heard of the possibility of an attack as well and had warned him not to enter popular churches.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, said the attacks could have been thwarted.

“We placed our hands on our heads when we came to know that these deaths could have been avoided. Why this was not prevented?” he said.