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Sri Lanka Ignored Warnings Of Potential Terror Attack

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Evidence is emerging that the Sri Lankan government had advance warning regarding potential terror attacks but failed to act on the information.
In the wake of the attacks on Sunday that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of churchgoers and others in Sri Lanka, The New York Times is reporting that the Sri Lankan government apparently had at least some warning of potential attacks but failed to act on them:
Within hours of when three churches and three hotels were bombed, Sri Lankan security services seized at least 24 suspects, implying that they knew exactly where this group had been operating and were quickly able to locate its safe houses.
Why the security agencies failed to act before the bombings — and why some top officials, including the country’s own prime minister, didn’t even know about the intelligence that the agencies possessed — are enormous questions that have created a crisis in the Sri Lankan government.
Its history of bitter infighting appears to have contributed to a spectacular security blunder that led to one of the world’s deadliest terrorist attacks.
On Monday, several ministers lashed out at President Maithripala Sirisena, who controls the security services, for not acting on the detailed warnings before the attacks.
“We are ashamed of what has happened,” said Rauff Hakeem, the minister of city planning. “If the names of the persons involved were already known, why were they not arrested?”He called the attacks a “colossal failure on the part of the intelligence services.”
Several ministers are now calling for the national police chief to resign. Shiral Lakthilaka, a senior adviser to President Sirisena, denied that there had been any security lapses.

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