Easter attack culprits will be brought to book soon – Defence Secretary

The Government would bring all culprits who planned, financed and supported the Easter bombing carnage that killed over 270 and wounded over 500 innocent people on last year’s Easter Sunday, to book soon, Defence Secretary Major General (Retired) Kamal Gunaratne has said.

Issuing a statement yesterday that marked one-year of the coordinated bomb blasts carried out by a local Islamic extremist group that blew three Christian churches and three hotels in Colombo, he said there would not be any space for any group or individuals to spread extremism in the country.

“We will bring all those who involved in those bomb blasts, irrespective of their social status, political affiliations, ethnicity or religion to book,” the Defence Secretary has said referring to the on-going investigations into Easter Sunday attacks.

He said under the leadership of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who had pledged to give the top most priority to national security, country’s people would be protected from terrorism and extremism.

“We will not let our people to die and suffer in such unfortunate incidents. We have taken all precautionary measures to identify such acts of terrorism or extremism at early stages and taken all necessary actions to bring them before the law,” the Defence Secretary said.

Highlighting the importance of public support and contribution of the intelligence agencies in curbing extremism, he said under the directives of the President the intelligence agencies had been strengthened under a system that brought all intelligence agencies in the country into one fold.

“The Government will do the justice for the people, including the children, who died and living with deadly scares and their families by punishing the culprits and also strengthening the national security,” he said.

The Defence Secretary said according to an assessment done by the President Secretariat and Defence Ministry, the Easter Sunday bomb blasts occurred year was mainly due to negligence to maintain national security.