Top cop had sounded alert of suicide attack

Colombo, APril 21

Sri Lanka’s police chief made a nationwide alert 10 days before Sunday’s bomb attacks in the country that suicide bombers planned to hit “prominent churches”. Police chief Pujuth Jayasundara sent an intelligence warning to top officers on April 11 setting out the threat. 

“A foreign intelligence agency has reported that the NTJ (National Thowheeth Jama’ath) is planning to carry out suicide attacks targeting prominent churches as well as the Indian high commission in Colombo,” the alert said. The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that came to notice last year when it was linked to the vandalisation of Buddhist statues. — AFP

Security uP in Goa

Panaji: The Goa Government on Sunday beefed up security at the churches in the state following  the Lanka blasts. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said he has given instructions to state the DGP to step up security around the churches.