World News | Sri Lanka President Appoints Committee to Probe British Channel's Accusations on 2019 Easter Terror Attacks

Colombo, Sep 15 (PTI) Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Friday appointed retired Supreme Court Justice S I Imam to head the probe committee to investigate the allegations made by a British channel on the 2019 Easter terror attacks by an Islamist extremist group that killed 270 people, including 11 Indians.

UK's Channel 4 aired a documentary titled ‘Sri Lanka's Easter Bombings - Dispatches' alleging the involvement and complicity of certain government officials, including intelligence service chief Major General Suresh Sallay, in orchestrating the 2019 Easter suicide bombings.

Also Read | UK Dog Attack: Man Mauled to Death by Two ‘Out-Of-Control’ Dogs in Stonnall.

It called the attacks a "crafted act” aimed at forcing a political change in favour of the Rajapaksa brothers- a charge denied by them.

The probe committee will also have two other members, a former commander of Sri Lanka Airforce and a legal luminary, the President's media division said.

Also Read | United Airlines Flight Drops 28,000 Feet in 10 Minutes Before Pilot Changes Directions to Head Back to New Jersey.

The attacks that took place on April 21, 2019, were carried out by nine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS.

A series of devastating blasts tore through three Catholic churches in predominant Catholic areas during the Easter Sunday mass and as many luxury hotels killing nearly 270 people, including 11 Indians, and injuring over 500.

The attacks led to a significant political change in Sri Lanka. It has emerged that the then authorities had ignored prior intelligence on the attack by Indian intelligence agencies.

Then President Maithripala Sirisena and the entire top police brass were ordered to pay compensation by court during a hearing of fundamental rights petitions filed by the victims' relatives.

Wickremesinghe has also pledged to appoint a parliamentary select committee to investigate allegations levelled by a former Attorney General that the whole attack was a conspiracy and there is a mastermind behind the attacks.

The two reports would then be presented in parliament for final action.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)