Sri Lanka police arrest former intelligence chief in connection with 2019 bombings

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Police in Sri Lanka arrested the country's former intelligence chief in connection with suicide bomb attacks in 2019 that killed nearly 270 people and were believed to be inspired by the Islamic State group, a spokesman said.

Suresh Salley, a retired army major general, was arrested Wednesday by the country's Criminal Investigation Department, police spokesman Fredrick Wootler said.

Two Islamist groups carried out six nearly simultaneous suicide bomb attacks on April, 21, 2019, which targeted churches and leading tourist hotels on Easter Sunday. Videos recorded by the attackers showed them pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group.

The attacks shook the island nation and revived memories of a 26-year civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, widely known as the Tamil Tigers, a separatist group that fought to create an independent state for the country’s ethnic Tamil minority.

Salley was a highly respected military intelligence official credited with a large role in ending the war in 2009. The CID is investigating possible “links or lapses” by Salley in connection with the 2019 attacks, Wootler said.

Following the bombings, allegations surfaced that the attackers had links with Sri Lanka's state intelligence.

In 2023, Britain's Channel 4 interviewed a man who said he arranged a meeting between Salley and a local group known as National Thowheed Jamath, which was inspired by the Islamic State group. The meeting prior to the bombings allegedly hatched a plot to create insecurity in Sri Lanka and enable former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win the presidential election later that year.

The man in the Channel 4 program, Azad Maulana, was a spokesperson for a Tamil Tigers breakaway group that later became a prostate militia and helped the Sinhalese-dominated government defeat the rebels.

After security camera footage of the bombings was released, Maulana said he recognized the faces of the attackers as the people he had arranged to meet with Salley.

Sri Lanka's defense ministry has denied any involvement.