Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena has said police are looking for 140 people believed to have links to Isis over the Easter Sunday attacks that killed at least 253 people.
Sirisena said some youths had been involved with the extremist group since 2013, and that top defence and police chiefs had not shared information with him about the impending attacks.
He also blamed Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government for weakening the intelligence system by focusing on the prosecution of military officers over alleged war crimes during a decade-long civil war with Tamil separatists.
The infighting continues amid heightened tensions. Muslim community leaders in Sri Lanka have called on Friday prayer gatherings to be held privately both because of ongoing threats from Islamic extremists and in solidarity with the country’s Catholics, whose services are still suspended due to security fears.
