UN urges Sri Lanka to deliver results in Easter bombing probe

Colombo: The United Nations urged Sri Lanka on Tuesday to deliver concrete results after long-running investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed 279 people, including 45 foreigners.

The UN’s top envoy to the country, Marc-Andre Franche, said survivors and families of victims were still waiting for answers, despite multiple probes and renewed political pledges following the formation of a new government in September 2024.

“Public commitments by the government to pursue justice are important and must be welcomed,” he said, as the nation marked seven years since the bombings on Tuesday.

“But what matters now is results,” he said at a remembrance service in Colombo.

Islamist bombers struck three churches and three hotels on April 21, 2019, in the island’s deadliest ever attack on civilians.

Several investigations, including a parliamentary probe, have pointed to the involvement of state intelligence units.

In October 2021, Sri Lanka’s state prosecutor indicted 25 people, accusing them of being co-conspirators in the bombings. The case is ongoing.

Police enquiries took a new turn in February with the arrest of the former head of the State Intelligence Service, retired army major general Suresh Sallay, who is accused of aiding and abetting the attackers.

Sallay has denied the allegations and is being held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Investigators have also alleged a plot to exploit the attacks to create instability and pave the way for Gotabaya Rajapaksa to win power.

Rajapaksa, the younger brother of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, announced his presidential bid two days after the bombings and won the November 2019 election.

However, he was toppled in July 2022 after being accused of corruption and mismanagement, which contributed to the country’s worst economic meltdown.

Rajapaksa has also denied involvement in any conspiracy.

At a remembrance ceremony at St. Anthony’s Church, where 51 people were killed, Catholic leader Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith said political interference had obstructed justice.

“An honest search for the truth behind some of the murders, disappearances and acts of corruption has become extremely difficult due to political interference and lying,” he said.

Security was tight at the commemoration, with armed military personnel guarding the church as diplomats and religious leaders observed two minutes of silence following the ringing of church bells.