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Sri Lanka Is Rattled by New Threats as Officials Argue Over Responsibility Sri Lanka Warns of More Suicide Bombers as Police Scour Capital
(about 2 hours later)
Police officials in Sri Lanka warned on Thursday of possible new attacks on religious services, as Muslim leaders urged the cancellation of Friday Prayer and the country’s highest Roman Catholic prelate suspended worship services through the weekend. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Hundreds of police officers swept through Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Thursday, shutting down large parts of the capital city and looking urgently for six suspects — three men and three women — who they said might be suicide bombers planning to follow the Easter Sunday attacks with a new wave of bloodshed.
Officials said privately that the authorities were trying to find at least one person believed to be armed with explosives. The police said the number of people arrested in the investigation had passed 70. The country’s defense secretary, Hemasiri Fernando, resigned after the president blamed him for failing to act on detailed warnings that Sri Lanka had received in the days before suicide bombers killed more than 350 people at churches holding Easter services and luxury hotels that were popular with foreign tourists.
A letter distributed to security officials said there was “credible information” that National Thowheeth Jama’ath, the radical Islamist group thought to have carried out the bombings on Sunday, was planning another attack “specifically targeting Sufi shrines.” Sri Lanka’s police said they had information that another attack was imminent. They posted the suspects’ pictures on social media and urged the public to call a police hotline.
Several officials confirmed the authenticity of the letter, and the prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, said in more general terms that the security services were hunting for people believed to be planning more terrorist attacks. The security services also circulated a memo saying that the group that carried out the Easter attacks could be “specifically targeting Sufi shrines.”
Sufism is a mystical strain of Islam that sometimes comes under attack from Islamic fundamentalists. The authorities in Sri Lanka have blamed a local extremist Islamist group, National Thowheeth Jama’ath, for the bombings, and images posted online appear to show members of the group pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, which has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The local group follows a fundamentalist form of Islam that believes Sufi Muslims, who adhere to a mystical school of Islam, are heretics.
The worries about new dangers came as officials debated who was to blame for a series of missed chances to prevent the bombings that killed more than 350 people at churches and hotels in three cities. The tragedy on Sunday could have been much worse had it not been for a miscalculation by the attackers, officials said. One bomber arrived at the Taj Samudra, another luxury hotel, carrying explosives in a large backpack, but twice failed to trigger the fuse on the device.
President Maithripala Sirisena, who has tried to deflect criticism that he bears some responsibility for the lack of action on intelligence warning of attacks on churches, has called for the resignation of two security officials, Pujith Jayasundara, the inspector general of the police, and Hemasiri Fernando, the defense secretary. The bomber then left the hotel for a motel a few kilometers away, where he died in an explosion. Officials say he he was probably trying to fix the bomb when it detonated.
But there was no public confirmation by Thursday that they had done so. Across Sri Lanka, Friday Prayer for Muslims and Sunday services for Roman Catholics have been canceled amid fears that the bombings might have marked the start of a new era of sectarian violence; there has already been some violent backlash against the country’s Muslim minority. The country’s devastating 26-year civil war, which ended in 2009, was fought along ethnic lines, not religious ones.
The Sri Lankan government is bitterly divided, which may have contributed to the security failures. Mr. Wickremesinghe, the prime minister and a rival of the president, complained that he had not been allowed to attend security meetings before the attacks and was unaware of the threats. Agents from the F.B.I., the British intelligence service MI6, and Indian, Australian and Swiss security agencies have all joined the investigation into the attacks. Sri Lankan authorities said more than 70 people had been arrested.
The fears of fresh attacks swirled a day after the United States ambassador warned of possible continuing terrorist plots. Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued on Thursday a Level 2 travel advisory, its second-highest advisory, warning of a “high concrete threat” in Sri Lanka. But one Sri Lankan official grumbled that coordination between Sri Lanka’s various government agencies was hampering the investigation. Sri Lankan intelligence agencies were still refusing to share foreign intelligence reports with officials in other departments investigating the suicide attacks, the official said.
Roadblocks went up around the country on Thursday, and the central bank and office buildings in Colombo, the capital, were temporarily put on lockdown. The police also briefly closed the road to the country’s main international airport, outside Negombo, while they searched a suspicious car. The Sri Lankan government is bitterly divided, which may have contributed to the security failures leading up to the bombings. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, a rival of President Maithripala Sirisena, has complained that he was not allowed to attend security meetings before the attacks and was never informed of the warnings.
A small blast was reported in a town about 20 miles east of Colombo, but no one was injured. The police arrested three people with more than 20 grenade-like explosives and six swords, local news outlets reported. Mr. Sirisena has tried to deflect intense criticism for the government’s failure to prevent the attacks, and on Wednesday called for he called for the resignations of Mr. Fernando, the defense secretary, and Pujith Jayasundara, the inspector general of the police.
And Sri Lanka’s civil aviation authority said that it was banning the use of drones because of continuing security concerns. Just a few months ago, the authorities arrested and then released one of the suicide bombers, and in January the police found a large cache of weapons, including explosives, assembled by radical Islamists who they say were probably were linked to National Thowheeth Jama’ath.
With warnings of more attacks circulating through Colombo, many people stayed home. The Liberty Plaza mall, one of the city’s biggest, was deserted. Many shops were closed. The few that were open stood empty. Indian intelligence officials began warning their Sri Lankan counterparts of a pending attack at least as early as April 4, officials have said. On April 11, a police official sent a memo to Sri Lankan security agencies, based on Indian intelligence reports, outlining in great detail the threat of suicide bombings at churches, with names, addresses and phone numbers of suspects. But many officials did not see the memo.
And just hours before the bombs detonated in packed churches and hotel restaurants, India warned that the attacks were imminent.
Government officials, survivors and Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, are among those who have criticized the government for failing to act.
Sri Lankan investigators said on Thursday that they were having trouble identifying the suicide bombers through DNA tests, which would require comparison to samples taken from relatives, because the families of most the bombers had fled their homes and were nowhere to be found.
With warnings of more attacks putting the entire capital on alert, many people stayed home. The Liberty Plaza mall, one of the city’s biggest, was deserted. Shop after shop was closed, and the few that were open stood empty. Roadblocks went up around the country.
Many people said they felt uneasy.Many people said they felt uneasy.
“I don’t know what to eat, I don’t know when to eat, my whole body is trembling,” said Indika Manamperi, the owner of two restaurants in the food court.“I don’t know what to eat, I don’t know when to eat, my whole body is trembling,” said Indika Manamperi, the owner of two restaurants in the food court.
Mr. Manamperi said he used to be a major in the Sri Lankan Army and felt completely demoralized by the attacks. Mr. Manamperi said he used to be a major in the Sri Lankan Army and felt completely demoralized by the terror attacks.
“There was enough of a blood bath for the past 30 years and again our children have to face the same tune?” he said, referring to the country’s long civil war, which ended a decade ago. “There was enough of a blood bath for the past 30 years and again our children have to face the same tune?” he said.
What really distressed him, he said, was the political dysfunction. What really distressed him, he said, was Sri Lanka’s political dysfunction during such a painful crisis.
“I’m stressed because these Sri Lankan politicians don’t want to take responsibility,” he said. “It’s a pathetic state of affairs.”“I’m stressed because these Sri Lankan politicians don’t want to take responsibility,” he said. “It’s a pathetic state of affairs.”
The attacks Sunday came after a series of missteps by the authorities.
Just a few months ago, the authorities arrested and then released one of the suicide bombers. On Thursday, a senior government official told CNN that the person arrested was Ilham Ibrahim, the son of a wealthy spice merchant.
Officials say that Mr. Ibrahim’s brother, Inshaf, also blew himself up in the attack, and their father, Mohammad Yusuf Ibrahim, is in custody and is being questioned.
[Read more about the mix of privilege and radicalism within the Ibrahim family.]
Indian intelligence officials began warning their Sri Lankan counterparts of a pending attack at least as early as April 4, officials have said.
On April 11, a police official sent a memo to Sri Lankan security agencies, based on Indian intelligence reports, outlining in great detail the threat of suicide bombings at churches, with names, addresses and phone numbers of suspects. But many officials did not see the memo.
And just hours before the bombs detonated in packed churches and hotel restaurants, India warned that the attacks were imminent.
Government officials, survivors and Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo, are among those who have criticized the government for failing to act.
The warning of possible attacks against Sufi mosques could tap into decade-old tensions. Threats to local Sufis in the Kattankudy area on the country’s east coast go back as far as 2006, when local Sufis appealed for help after asserting that an influx of extremist Wahhabi Muslims was making life hard for them.