COLOMBO, Feb 25, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Sri Lanka's criminal investigators arrested the country's former intelligence chief on Wednesday in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed 279 people, police said. Sallay, who was promoted to State Intelligence Service (SIS) chief in 2019 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa became president, had been accused of involvement in the coordinated suicide bombings, a charge he has denied. Two days after the bombings, Rajapaksa declared his candidacy and went on to win the November vote in a landslide after promising to stamp out Islamist extremism. In the aftermath, officials blamed a local jihadist group for the suicide bombings on three churches and three hotels, but Sallay was also accused of orchestrating the attack. The UN has asked Sri Lanka to publish parts of previous inquiries into the bombings that were withheld from the public.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha February 25, 2026 14:07 UTC