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Manila Bulletin devider devider Sri Lanka police chief had warned of suicide attack threat before blasts

Sri Lanka police chief had warned of suicide attack threat before blasts

Published Apr 21, 2019 02:51 pm
By Agence France-Presse 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", according to the warning seen by AFP. Sri Lankan security personnel keep watch outside the church premises following a blast at the St. Anthony's Shrine in Kochchikade, Colombo on April 21, 2019. - Explosions have hit three churches and three hotels in and around the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, police said on April 21. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN) Sri Lankan security personnel keep watch outside the church premises following a blast at the St. Anthony's Shrine in Kochchikade, Colombo on April 21, 2019. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP / MANILA BULLETIN) 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," said the alert. The NTJ is a radical Muslim group in Sri Lanka that came to notice last year when it was linked to the vandalization of Buddhist statues. At least 129 people were killed in six bomb attacks Sunday that included three churches. READ MORE:  Explosions hit Sri Lankan churches, hotels on Easter; at least 52 killed
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