COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Authorities in Sri Lanka have detained the nation’s former top intelligence official as part of an ongoing investigation into the devastating Easter Sunday bombings that claimed nearly 270 lives four years ago, according to law enforcement officials.
Retired army major general Suresh Salley was taken into custody Wednesday by Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department, police spokesman Fredrick Wootler confirmed.
The deadly assault occurred on April 21, 2019, when two extremist Islamic organizations executed six coordinated suicide bombings targeting Christian churches and upscale hotels frequented by tourists. Video evidence later revealed the perpetrators had sworn loyalty to the Islamic State organization.
The coordinated strikes devastated the island nation and brought back painful memories of the country’s brutal 26-year conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, commonly called the Tamil Tigers, who waged war to establish a separate homeland for Sri Lanka’s Tamil ethnic community.
Salley had earned widespread recognition as a military intelligence leader who played a crucial role in bringing the civil war to an end in 2009. According to Wootler, investigators are examining potential “links or lapses” involving Salley related to the 2019 terrorist attacks.
In the aftermath of the bombings, accusations emerged suggesting the perpetrators had connections to Sri Lanka’s intelligence apparatus.
A 2023 investigation by Britain’s Channel 4 featured testimony from an individual who claimed to have facilitated a meeting between Salley and a domestic organization called National Thowheed Jamath, which drew inspiration from the Islamic State. The alleged pre-attack meeting supposedly involved planning to destabilize Sri Lanka and help former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa secure victory in that year’s presidential contest.
The Channel 4 source, Azad Maulana, had previously served as a spokesman for a Tamil Tigers splinter faction that eventually became a government-supporting militia and assisted the Sinhalese-majority administration in defeating the separatist movement.
Maulana stated that upon viewing security footage from the bombing sites, he identified several attackers as individuals he had arranged to meet with Salley.
Sri Lanka’s defense ministry has categorically rejected any allegations of involvement in the attacks.
