Sri Lanka: Military says "situation under control, no need to bring in foreign armies"

Military spokesman Sumith Atapattu said there were no incidents of violence overnight and security forces have arrested nearly 100 people for taking part in mob attacks.

A Sri Lankan security personnel looks on as he stands guard at a checkpoint on a roadside in Colombo on May 13, 2019. - Sri Lanka imposed a nationwide night curfew on May 13, after anti-Muslim riots spread to at least three districts just north of the capital in a violent new backlash against the Easter suicide bombings. (Photo by LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / AFP)

Colombo: Sri Lankan authorities on Wednesday said the situation is now totally "under control" after the communal violence and there is no requirement to bring in armies of other countries in the island nation. Military spokesman Sumith Atapattu said there were no incidents of violence overnight and security forces have arrested nearly 100 people for taking part in mob attacks. "The situation is now totally under control," Atapattu was quoted as saying by media reports. Anti-Muslim riots left one man dead and caused extensive damage to homes, businesses and mosques. The communal violence is a fresh backlash from the Easter attacks where nine suicide bombers, including a woman, carried out a series of devastating blasts that tore through three churches and three luxury hotels, killing 258 people and injuring over 500 others. Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera said Sri Lanka has no requirement to bring in the US Army or armies of other countries in the aftermath of the terror attacks. Responding to allegations made by the Opposition MPs, the minister said only the intelligence expertise of foreign countries had been sought to contain the terror situation in the country. We have no need to bring in the armies of the US or any other country. However, when taking measures against an international terror outfit, US intelligence agencies have vast experiences and so do intelligence agencies of England, Europe and Australia. "They offered their expertise and helped us in fighting and containing international terrorism in Sri Lanka. What they offered helped us to eradicate this menace, the minister was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror. He said the Army Commander and the heads of other security forces had made it clear that the security has been restored. If we love the country, we should allow students to go to schools and get back to our day to day life to restore normalcy. Not only Sri Lanka, even developed countries such as the US, the UK, New Zealand, France and Germany have faced international terror threats, he said. He admitted that the government had its shortcomings at first but said now it had rectified all those.