Sri Lankan president asks defence secretary, police chief to quit

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has asked Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and country’s police chief Pujith Jayasundara to resign after their failure to prevent the deadly suicide blasts despite having the prior intelligence inputs about the attacks, a media report said on Wednesday.

In his address to the nation for the first time since the Easter Sunday blasts that killed 359 people and wounded more than 500 others, Sirisena last night said he will make changes in top positions in the security establishment within the next 24 hours.

President Sirisena has requested Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jayasundara and Defence Secretary Fernando to resign from their posts, the Sunday Times reported, quoting sources close to the president. Sirisena last night said that the people were questioning why action had not been taken by the top security officials despite the availability of intelligence support from a friendly neighbouring country. Former Army Commander Daya Ratnayake is being considered for the post of Defence Secretary, th


58 SUSPECTS ARRESTED
So far, 58 suspects have been arrested from different areas of the island, Police Spokesperson Ruwan Gunasekara said. At least 18 more suspects were taken into custody in the early hours of Wednesday as security operations continued, Xinhua news agency quoted Gunasekara as saying. Four walkie-talkies and a motorcycle were also recovered by the police from a house in Warakapola, around 56 km away from here, he added. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had already warned on Tuesday that several suspects still armed with explosives were at large.