Sri Lanka put on high alert; security beefed up around churches having Good Friday service: Police

Colombo: Sri Lanka was put on high alert on Friday and security beefed up in major cities across the country, with special surveillance around the Churches having Good Friday services, according to a senior police official.

Police spokesman Nihal Thalduwa said that over that 6,000 police personnel, over 3,000 military soldiers and over 400 elite special task force members have been deployed across the country on the occasion of Good Friday.

"We have identified 2,268 churches having Good Friday services to provide special security,” Thalduwa said.

Police have also set up a special hotline to report any suspicious movements near the churches.

The police said they were taking all precautions in view of the fifth anniversary of the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings which killed 270 people, including 11 Indians.

Meanwhile, the Magistrates Court in central Colombo’s Maligawatta has issued a summons to former president Maithripala Sirisena to appear before the court on April 4 to record a statement.

This was following the police’s CID reporting to court a statement recorded from Sirisena last week over his public comments that he was aware of who carried out the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.

Sirisena as the president then held the defense ministry and he was accused of inaction to prevent the attack despite the availability of prior intelligence.

Sirisena was ordered to pay 100 million rupees as compensation to the kith of the 2019 bomb attack victims.

A local jihadi group with links to ISIS was originally blamed for the attacks.