Sri Lanka's new president to reopen probe in Easter Sunday attacks

Colombo: Sri Lanka's new president Anura Kumara Dissanayake on Tuesday said he would reopen an investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks.

Dissanayake who was appointed president on Sunday following his victory in last weekend's presidential election made the remarks while paying a courtesy call on the head of the Catholic Church Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith.

“The new president assured us that the truth on the Easter Sunday attacks would be brought to light," Ranjith said.

Ranjith has been critical of the investigation into the attacks at star-class hotels and churches during the Easter Sunday mass, leaving nearly 300 persons, including foreigners, dead.

Blaming both former presidents Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe for the incident, Ranjith slammed the investigation as a political cover-up of the attacks carried out by local jihadi group National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ).

Former president Maithripala Sirisena had appointed a high-level probe committee following pressure from the church.

The probe found Sirisena guilty and ordered him to compensate SRs 100 million (INR 27,443,756) to the victims' relatives.

Then defence top brass were also found guilty of criminal negligence for ignoring prior intelligence warnings from India.