Sri Lanka says it is probing allegations against spy agency

A Sri Lankan official says President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has ordered an investigation of allegations that some members of state intelligence agencies knew and met with people who carried out Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 that killed more than 260 people

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has ordered an investigation of allegations that some members of state intelligence agencies knew and met with people who carried out Easter Sunday bombings in 2019 that killed more than 260 people, a government official said. The Catholic Church in Sri Lanka wrote to the president on Tuesday raising concerns about the government's handling of the suicide bombings and asking it to investigate alleged links between intelligence personnel and the group that carried out the attacks. Two local Muslim groups that had declared allegiance to the Islamic State group carried out six coordinated attacks on churches and leading tourist hotels, killing 269 people. Another man did not carry out a planned attack at a fourth tourist hotel but killed himself later by exploding the bomb at a different location. The letter from the National Catholic Committee for Justice to Easter Sunday Attack Victims, a group of bishops and priests led by Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, called on the president to take legal action against former President Maithripala Sirisena for negligence as recommended by a presidential inquiry commission report.