COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has ended a four-month state of emergency declared after Easter suicide bombings by Islamist extremists that killed 258 people, officials said on Friday.

President Maithripala Sirisena has been extending the emergency on the 22nd of each month since the April 21 attacks on three hotels and three churches. However, his office confirmed that Sirisena had not extended it for another term and thereby allowed the emergency to end on Thursday.

"The president did not issue a fresh proclamation extending the emergency by a further period," an official source said. The official government printer also confirmed that there was no notification reimposing the state of emergency, which gives sweeping powers to police and security forces to arrest and detain suspects for long periods.

The government used the emergency as it tightened security across the country and hunted members of a local jihadist group which was held responsible for the attacks and which claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Police have said that all those directly responsible for the suicide bombings have either been killed or arrested. This week Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said he had asked the president to relax the draconian law to signal to foreign holidaymakers that the situation in the country was back to normal.

Sri Lanka’s parliament is currently investigating security lapses that led to the Easter attacks despite intelligence warnings. Sirisena himself has been accused of failing to act on precise Indian intelligence that jihadists were about to hit Christian churches and other targets in Sri Lanka. </s> President Maithripala Sirisena has been extending the emergency on 22nd of each month since April 21 attacks on 3 hotels and 3 churches.

Sri Lanka's parliament is currently investigating security lapses that led to the Easter attacks despite intelligence warnings. (Photo: File)

Colombo: Sri Lanka has ended a four-month state of emergency declared after Easter suicide bombings by Islamist extremists that killed 258 people, officials said Friday.

President Maithripala Sirisena has been extending the emergency on the 22nd of each month since the April 21 attacks on three hotels and three churches. However, his office confirmed that Sirisena had not extended it for another term and thereby allowed the emergency to end on Thursday.

"The President did not issue a fresh proclamation extending the emergency by a further period," an official source said. The official government printer also confirmed that there was no notification reimposing the state of emergency, which gives sweeping powers to police and security forces to arrest and detain suspects for long periods.

The government used the emergency as it tightened security across the country and hunted members of a local jihadist group which was held responsible for the attacks and which claimed allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Police have said that all those directly responsible for the suicide bombings have either been killed or arrested. This week Tourism Minister John Amaratunga said he had asked the president to relax the draconian law to signal to foreign holidaymakers that the situation in the country was back to normal. Sri Lanka's parliament is currently investigating security lapses that led to the Easter attacks despite intelligence warnings.

Sirisena himself has been accused of failing to act on precise Indian intelligence that jihadists were about to hit Christian churches and other targets in Sri Lanka. A parliamentary public inquiry has been told Sirisena -- who is also the minister of defence and law and order -- failed to follow proper national security protocols.

The mainly Buddhist nation of 21 million people was about to mark a decade since ending a 37-year-long Tamil separatist war when the Islamist extremists struck. </s> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka has ended four months of emergency rule imposed after Easter Sunday suicide attacks killed more than 260 people, the president's office said Friday.

President Maithripala Sirisena allowed the emergency rule to lapse by not signing a decree extending it for another month.

Two local Muslim groups have been blamed for the attacks on three churches and three hotels in and around Colombo and the eastern town of Batticaloa.

Seven suicide bombers participated in the attacks. Another committed suicide after his attempt failed, while another killed herself to avoid capture.

The emergency laws gave the military and police sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects.

Sri Lanka's government and the security apparatus are accused of not acting upon near-specific intelligence from foreign agencies ahead of the attacks, and a parliamentary committee is investigating who was responsible for not taking timely action.

The blasts, which killed a number of foreign tourists, caused a serious setback to the country's lucrative tourism industry. </s> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka has ended four months of emergency rule imposed after suicide attacks on Easter Sunday killed more than 260 people.

The president's office said President Maithripala Sirisena allowed the emergency rule to lapse by not signing a decree extending it for another month.

The emergency laws gave the military and police sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects.

Two local Muslim groups have been blamed for the attacks on three churches and three hotels in and around Colombo and the eastern town of Batticaloa.

Seven suicide bombers participated in the attacks. Another committed suicide after his attempt failed, while another killed herself to avoid capture. </s> Sri Lanka has officially ended four months of emergency rule imposed after a series of suicide attacks that killed more than 260 people, left the government in disarray and raised fears of renewed ethnic tensions in the island-nation.

President Maithripala Sirisena allowed the emergency rule, which was put in place shortly after the April 21 bombings, to lapse by not signing a decree that would extend it for another month.

He had previously extended the order on the 22nd of every month following the massacres that happened when suicide bombers attacked three churches and three hotels around the capital, Colombo, and the eastern town of Batticaloa on Easter Sunday.

"The minister of defence will not extend the state of emergency," the official government news portal tweeted on Friday.

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The emergency laws gave the military and police sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects without court orders. Critics charge it has been used to unfairly target Muslim citizens.

Hundreds have been arrested since April as the government used the emergency order, as well as curfews and social media blackouts, to tighten security across the country and hunt members of two local Muslim groups it said were responsible for the attacks.

Those groups had claimed allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), although a Sri Lankan investigator said in July that the groups were inspired, but not directly linked, to ISIL.

Sri Lankan authorities say all those directly responsible for the suicide bombings have either been killed or arrested.

A return to normal?

The end of emergency rule signifies a perceived calm returning to the country, which relies heavily on its $4.4bn tourism industry that has suffered since April. Several foreigners were killed in the bombings, which also wounded at least 500 people.

Tourist arrivals had slumped by 70 percent in May and 57 percent in June, compared with the previous year.

Earlier in the week, John Amaratunga, the tourism minister, had asked the president to relax the emergency law in hopes of signalling to foreign holidaymakers that the situation in the country was back to normal, according to the AFP news agency.

The government and the country's security apparatus remain in disarray since April, with accusations that officials did not act upon near-specific intelligence from foreign agencies before.

A parliamentary committee is investigating who was responsible for not taking the timely action.

In July, authorities arrested Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Hemasiri Fernando over allegations they failed to prevent the attacks.

Opponents have accused Sirisena of failing to act on precise Indian intelligence that attackers were about to hit Christian churches and other targets in Sri Lanka.

The country is set to hold a presidential election later this year.

The tensions have buoyed support for Nandasena Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is planning to run on a platform of restoring national security.

Gotabaya had been accused of war crimes committed during the 26-year-long conflict between the government and Tamil separatists, but is hailed as a hero by many for helping to bring the civil war to an end a decade ago.

Many arrested under emergency order

Military and police have been accused of targeting the country's Muslim minority, activists and politicians under the emergency order, provoking further fear after the bombings threatened to inflame tensions between the majority Buddhist and minority Muslim populations. Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka's population of 22 million.

In June, a police spokesman told Al Jazeera that 2,289 people - including 1,820 Muslims - had been arrested in "connection to the Easter Bombings and related incidents".

That month, the EU said it was "deeply concerned by the political and religious pressure being directed at Sri Lanka's Muslim community which is undermining peace and reconciliation in the country".

Calls for ethnic violence by hardline Buddhist groups have also been reported across the country.

In May, mobs in the North Western Province destroyed hundreds of Muslims' properties, including shops and mosques, and killed one in what many believed to be retaliation for the April attacks.

In June, all of Sri Lanka's Muslim ministers resigned in protest over the government's failure to ensure the safety of its Muslim citizens. </s> COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka on Friday withdrew an emergency law imposed after Easter Sunday attacks, a military spokesman said, signifying the return of calm to the island nation which is set to vote in a new head of state later this year.

President Maithripala Sirisena imposed emergency law in April after more than 250 people were killed and 500 wounded in Islamist militant bombings across churches and luxury hotels on Easter day.

The army will continue to assist police for internal security, military spokesman Sumith Atapattu told Reuters.

The emergency gave police and military extensive powers to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders.

Almost all militants suspected to have links with the attackers have either been arrested or killed, Sirisena has previously said.

The Indian Ocean island is set to vote for a new president in an election due before Dec. 9, with political parties already having kicked off campaigning. </s> The Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka has called for an “independent and impartial” investigation into the bombings of three churches and three hotels on Easter Sunday. The leaders claim that this investigation must bring about justice for the victims by holding those responsible before the law.

On April 21, Easter Sunday, suicide bombers reportedly supported by ISIS attacked three churches and three luxury hotels in Sri Lanka. As a result, 263 people were kill and another 600 were wounded. Among the dead and wounded were many Sri Lankan Christians who were attacked while celebrating Easter in their churches.

In an open letter, the Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka said, “Although various efforts of recovery by the government are appreciable, we wish to repeat that what is most important is to do justice by bringing those responsible before the law rapidly.” Read more </s> COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s state minister of defense said Tuesday that the Easter attack on churches, hotels and other sites in the South Asian nation was “carried out in retaliation” for the shooting massacre at two New Zealand mosques last month.

The minister, Ruwan Wijewardene, told Parliament the government possessed information that the series of bombings in and outside of Colombo that killed more than 300 people were carried out “by an Islamic fundamentalist group” in response to the Christchurch attacks. He did not provide evidence of explain the source of the information.

Wijewardene blamed “weakness” within Sri Lanka’s security apparatus for failing to prevent the nine bombings at churches, luxury hotels and other sites.

“By now it has been established that the intelligence units were aware of this attack and a group of responsible people were informed about the impending attack,” he said. “However, this information has been circulated among only a few officials.”

As Sri Lanka’s leaders wrangled the aftermath of an apparent homegrown militant attack and massive intelligence failure, security was heightened Tuesday for a national day of mourning and the military was employing powers to make arrests it last used when the devastating civil war ended in 2009.

The six near-simultaneous attacks on three churches and three luxury hotels and three related blasts later Sunday were the South Asian island nation’s deadliest violence in a decade. Wijewardene said the death toll from the attack now stood at 321 people, with 500 wounded.

Word from international intelligence agencies that a local group was planning attacks apparently didn’t reach the prime minister’s office until after the massacre, exposing the continuing political turmoil in the highest levels of the Sri Lankan government.

On April 11, Priyalal Disanayaka, Sri Lanka’s deputy inspector general of police, signed a letter addressed to the directors of four Sri Lankan security agencies, warning them that a local group was planning a suicide attack in the country.

The intelligence report attached to his letter, which has circulated widely on social media, named the group allegedly plotting the attack, National Towheed Jamaar, said it was led by Zahran Hashmi, and was targeting “some important churches” in a suicide terrorist attack that was planned to take place “shortly.” The report named six individuals likely to be involved in the plot.

On Monday, Sri Lanka’s health minister held up a copy of the intelligence report while describing its contents, spurring questions about what Sri Lanka police had done to protect the public from an attack.

It was not immediately clear what steps were taken by any of these security directors. Disanayaka did not answer calls or messages seeking comment.

Among the 40 people arrested on suspicion of links to the bombings were the driver of a van allegedly used by the suicide bombers and the owner of a house where some of them lived.

Heightened security was evident an international airport outside the capital where security personnel walked explosive-sniffing dogs and checked car trunks and questioned drivers on roads nearby. Police also ordered that anyone leaving a parked car unattended on the street must put a note with their phone number on the windscreen, and post officers were not accepting pre-wrapped parcels.

A block on most social media since the attacks has left a vacuum of information, fueling confusion and giving little reassurance the danger had passed. Even after an overnight curfew was lifted, the streets of central Colombo were mostly deserted Tuesday and shops closed as armed soldiers stood guard.

Sri Lankan authorities also Tuesday planned to brief foreign diplomats and receive assistance from the FBI and other foreign intelligence-gathering agencies.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he feared the massacre could unleash instability and he vowed to “vest all necessary powers with the defense forces” to act against those responsible.

Authorities said they knew where the group trained and had safe houses, but did not identify any of the seven suicide bombers, whose bodies were recovered, or the other suspects taken into custody. All seven bombers were Sri Lankans, but authorities said they strongly suspected foreign links.

Also unclear was a motive. The history of Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, a country of 21 million including large Hindu, Muslim and Christian minorities, is rife with ethnic and sectarian conflict.

In the 26-year civil war, the Tamil Tigers, a powerful rebel army known for using suicide bombers, was finally crushed by the government in 2009 but had little history of targeting Christians. Anti-Muslim bigotry fed by Buddhist nationalists has swept the country recently, but there is no history of Islamic militancy. Its small Christian community has seen only scattered incidents of harassment.

Associated Press writers Bharatha Mallawarachi, Jon Gambrell, Rishabh Jain and Gemunu Amarasinghe contributed to this report. </s> Sri Lanka on Friday withdrew an emergency law imposed after Easter Sunday attacks, a military spokesman said,...
Sri Lanka ends its state of emergency, four months after the Easter bombings.