Lanka govt blames inciters for spate of violence; vows action

The Sri Lankan government said on Saturday that the recent killings in the country, including that of a prominent underworld figure, appear to be an attempt to undermine the ongoing investigations into high-profile criminal cases such as the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings.

The government’s response came following this week’s courtroom shooting that left the underworld figure dead.

The incident sent shockwaves across the country, leading to the opposition probing the government’s measures to tackle the spate of violence.

“Most of these are done by gangs now resident in neighbouring countries,” Ravi Seneviratne the secretary to the Ministry of Public Security told reporters today.

Seneviratne said the government has felt that recent killings were an attempt to sabotage the ongoing investigation into high-profile cases of the past, including the revived investigation on the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings.

On April 21, 2019, nine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels in Sri Lanka, killing 273 people, including 11 Indians.