Former Sri Lanka Intelligence Chief Arrested in Connection with 2019 Bombings That Killed 279 People

Illustration of the arrest. (Pixabay/4711018)

JAKARTA - The former head of Sri Lanka's intelligence service has been arrested in connection with the Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 that killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners, local police said.

Spokesperson Fredrick Wootler said Suresh Sallay was arrested on Wednesday by the Criminal Investigation Department.

The coordinated suicide bombing targeted three luxury hotels in Colombo, two Roman Catholic churches and an evangelical Protestant church outside the city. The attack was blamed on a local jihadist group.

The department is investigating possible "collusion or negligence" by Sallay in relation to the attack, Wootler said, as reported by The National (25/2).

The bombing was the worst attack on civilians in the country where at least 100,000 people have died in the Tamil separatist war that ended in May 2009, after nearly four decades of violence.

Sallay, who was promoted to head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) in 2019 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president, is accused of being involved in organizing suicide bombings, an accusation he has denied.

His long-awaited arrest came ahead of the seventh anniversary of the bombing.

British television station Channel 4 reported in 2023 that he was associated with Islamist suicide bombers and had met them before the attack.

Two days after the bombing, ISIS claimed responsibility, but investigators said they had no evidence to establish direct foreign involvement.

More than 500 people were killed and wounded in the bombing, which crippled the once-lucrative tourism industry of the archipelago nation.

Five US citizens were among those killed, and in 2021, American authorities charged three Sri Lankans with supporting the attack. The three were among 25 suspects charged in Sri Lanka's High Court.

The Supreme Court has fined President Maithripala Sirisena and four senior officials more than 1.03 million US dollars in a civil case for their failure to prevent the attack.

It is known that the United Nations has asked Sri Lanka to publish part of the previous investigation into the bombing, which has been kept secret from the public.