Sri Lanka was warned of terrorist plot weeks ago, but 'never expected it to be so big'
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By Bill Neely, Linda Givetash and Shammas Ghouse
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan authorities were warned about a terrorist plot two weeks before a series of Easter Sunday blasts that killed at least 290 people, government officials confirmed Monday.
Rajitha Senaratne, the country’s health minister and a spokesman for its Cabinet, said international intelligence agencies had informed Sri Lankan counterparts on April 4 that churches and tourist destinations were being targeted. Five days later, police were given the names of suspects behind the plot.
The interior of St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, Sri Lanka, in the aftermath of Sunday’s attack.ISHARA S. KODIKARA / AFP – Getty Images
A wave of near-simultaneous explosions hit three churches and three luxury hotels on Sunday, officials said. Police later reported two further explosions.
About 500 people were injured and at least 27 foreign nationals were among the dead.
Hemasiri Fernando, the chief of staff to Sri Lankan’s president, also told NBC News that the country’s security agencies had been alerted in advance.
“We never expected it to be so big,” Fernando said. “We never thought it would happen so soon.”
Senaratne blamed National Thowheed Jamath, a local Islamist group, for the attacks.
Shoes and belongings of victims after St. Sebastian’s Church was bombed.JEWEL SAMAD / AFP – Getty Images
Blasts occurred at St. Anthony’s Shrine in Colombo, St. Sebastian’s Church in Negombo, a Catholic majority town north of Colombo, and a church in the eastern town of Batticaloa.
The hotels targeted included the Shangri-La Colombo, Kingsbury Hotel and Cinnamon Grand Colombo — all popular with foreign tourists.
Bill Neely and Shammas Ghouse reported from Colombo, and Linda Givetash from London.
Bill Neely
Bill Neely is NBC News chief global correspondent. He joined NBC News from Britain’s ITV News in January 2014. Neely was ITV News international editor for 11 years. Over the course of 30 years in journalism, he has covered more than a dozen wars and conflicts from Northern Ireland to Syria, and has been embedded regularly with U.S. and British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He covered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union and he has reported more than a dozen natural disasters including Hurricane Katrina, the Asian tsunami, and the deadly earthquakes in China, Haiti, and Pakistan. During his six years as ITV News Washington correspondent, which spanned the presidencies of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s first term, he covered key stories in the U.S. such as the Oklahoma City bombings, the Atlanta Olympics, and the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. He later closely followed the aftermath of 9/11 and, most recently, Superstorm Sandy.
His reports from across the globe have earned many prestigious awards, including numerous Royal Television Society awards, an Emmy for coverage of the 2008 earthquake in China, and an unprecedented three consecutive BAFTA awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, for his work in China, Haiti, and the U.K.
Linda Givetash
Linda Givetash is a reporter based in London. She previously worked for The Canadian Press in Vancouver and Nation Media in Uganda.
Shammas Ghouse
Shammas Ghouse is a journalist based in Sri Lanka.
