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Sri Lankan authorities were warned more than two weeks before the devastating attacks that killed at least 290 — and even had names of suspects, officials admitted Monday.
“Fourteen days before these incidents occurred, we had been informed about these incidents,” cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne told a press conference, according to the Guardian.
In fact, the first warning from international intelligence agencies came even earlier, on April 4 — 17 days before the attacks, Senaratne confirmed.
Five days later, the Defense Ministry wrote to the police chief where “many of the names of the members of the terrorist organization were written down,” Senaratne admitted, according to the report.
That report identified National Thowfeek Jamaath, a newly formed radical Islamist group in Sri Lanka now being blamed for the atrocity.
Two days later, on April 11, police wrote to the heads of security of the judiciary and diplomatic security division — a warning that was not even passed on to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and his cabinet.
“The prime minister was not informed by these letters and revelations,” Senaratne admitted, according to the Guardian report.
“We are not trying to evade responsibility but these are the facts. We were surprised to see these reports.”
Telecommunications Minister Harin Fernando complained about the “delay in action.”
“Serious action needs to be taken as to why this warning was ignored,” he tweeted.
The bombings killed at least 290 people with more than 500 wounded, police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said Monday.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that “several US citizens” were among those killed.
With Post wires



