Sri Lanka police chief resigns as Sirisena blames security establishment's failures

Sirisena, who is also the defence minister, said Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara resigned over failures which led to the worst terror attack in the country's history.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 07, 2017 Sri Lanka police chief Pujith Jayasundara looks on after launching the first on-line service delivery of the Sri Lankan police at the headquarters in Colombo on March 7, 2017. Sri Lanka's top police official, Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara, has resigned over failures that led to the deadly Easter bomb attacks, the country's president said on April 26, 2019. - The resignation comes after the country's top defence ministry official, defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando resigned on Thursday. (Photo by Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP)

President Sirisena, who is also the defence minister, said Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara resigned over failures which led to the worst terror attack in the country's history

On Thursday, country's defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando had also resigned following the President’s orders

Sirisena said the intelligence supplied by a friendly nation was not shared with him by officials.

New Delhi: Sri lanka police chief on Friday resigned over failure to prevent the deadly serial bombings on Easter Sunday which claimed about 250 lives in the island nation, despite having prior intelligence. Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara’s resignation comes after the Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena on Wednesday asked for his removal along with the removal of Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando over the mishandling of the intelligence reports in the lead up to Easter Sunday's bombings. On Thursday, country's defence secretary Hemasiri Fernando had also resigned following the President’s orders. Sirisena, who is also the defence minister, said Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara resigned over failures which led to the worst terror attack in the country's history. "The IGP has resigned. He has sent his resignation to the acting defence secretary. I'll nominate a new IGP soon," Sirisena said. Top officials have acknowledged that Sri Lanka received intelligence about possible terror strikes ahead of the attacks, but both Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that they did not receive the information. Sirisena said the intelligence supplied by a friendly nation was not shared with him by officials. "All they have done was to exchange letters among themselves," he said. "I asked both police chief and defence secretary why the information was not shared with me, they remained silent," he said. The Sri Lankan government on Friday substantially cut off the death toll reported in the serial bombings by almost hundred, bringing it down to about 250. The government ahs cited calculation errors in the previous tolls reported by the Lankan media.

Published at : 26 Apr 2019 06:32 PM (IST)

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