Euronews reports that divisions within the leadership in Sri Lanka were highlighted on Tuesday as it emerged authorities were warned about the movement accused of the Easter bombings, which saw 310 people lose their lives and more than 500 people are wounded.
Police were warned this earlier in April about a possible attack on churches by a little-known domestic Islamist group, according to a document seen by Reuters.
On Monday, ministers held a press conference and said local Islamist movement, the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ), was behind the attacks. No group has claimed responsibility.
The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that was linked last year to the vandalization of Buddhist statues.
Authorities were warned two weeks before the bombings and had the names of attackers, but this information was not shared with the prime minister, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne told journalists.
“On April 4, 14 days before these incidents occurred, we had been informed about these incidents,” he said.
President Maithripala Sirisena is responsible for national security and intelligence, but tensions between him and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are high, according to Euronews.
It was not clear if Sirisena, was aware of the report but the top security organization, the Security Council, reports to him, while the prime minister was no longer invited to council meetings because of the rift, Senaratne said.
The president fired Wickremesinghe last October over political differences, only to reinstate him weeks later under pressure from the Supreme Court.
Recall, a series of eight devastating bomb blasts ripped through high-end hotels and churches holding Easter services in Sri Lanka on Sunday. The attacks were the worst act of violence to hit the country in the decade since the end of a bloody civil war that killed up to 100,000 people
Police said 35 foreigners were among the dead, including British, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinese and American citizens.
Among the churches targeted was the historic St. Anthony’s Shrine, a Catholic church in Colombo, where the blast blew out much of the roof.
