The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka on Thursday welcomed the arrest of a former intelligence chief in connection with the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and urged authorities to allow investigators to proceed without political interference.
Retired Major General Suresh Sallay was arrested Wednesday, becoming the most high-profile official detained in the long-running probe into the coordinated attacks that killed 279 people and wounded more than 500.
Nine suicide bombers carried out the April 21, 2019, bombings, targeting two Roman Catholic churches, an evangelical Protestant church, and three luxury hotels. The attacks crippled the island’s tourism industry and intensified political tensions in the aftermath.
Church spokesman Father Cyril Gamini Fernando described the arrest as a critical development in efforts to uncover the alleged conspiracy behind the attacks.
“If the current investigations by the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) are allowed to continue without political interference, we will soon uncover the conspiracy,” Fernando told reporters.
He said investigators had questioned more than 100 people so far, but added that the latest arrest could prove decisive.
“We know that over 100 people have been questioned, but the latest arrest will help shed more light on the case,” he said.
Fernando also appealed to opposition parties to refrain from undermining the investigation after some criticized Sallay’s detention.
“Some people are making a lot of noise because the investigators are getting closer to the truth,” he said. “That is why some people have got very agitated.”
The Church has previously accused former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa of sabotaging Criminal Investigation Department inquiries after coming to power following the bombings.
Two days after the attacks, Rajapaksa declared his candidacy for president and later won the November 2019 election in a landslide, promising to stamp out Islamist extremism.
In 2019, a jihadist group told reporters it was originally funded by a military intelligence unit to propagate a fundamentalist ideology in Sri Lanka’s multi-ethnic Eastern Province.
Sallay had worked in the same intelligence unit. The government at the time admitted the military was behind the radical groups.
The investigation into the Easter bombings has spanned nearly seven years, with victims’ families and Church leaders continuing to press for accountability and full disclosure of those responsible. – with reports from Agence France-Presse
