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Authorities in Sri Lanka on Monday banned women from wearing face veils under an emergency law put in place after deadly Easter Sunday attacks by Islamist militants.

The measures would help security forces to identify people as a hunt for any remaining attackers and their support network continues across the Indian Ocean island, authorities said.

But there are concerns within the Muslim community that a prolonged ban could fuel tensions in the religiously-diverse nation that emerged from a civil war with ethnic minority Tamil separatists a decade ago.

Officials have warned that the militants behind the April 21 suicide bombings on hotels and churches that killed over 250 people were planning more attacks, using a van and bombers disguised in military uniforms.

"It is a presidential order to ban any dress covering faces with immediate effect," Dharmasri Bandara Ekanayake, a spokesman for President Maithripala Sirisena, told Reuters.

Separately, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is feuding with Sirisena, issued a statement saying he had asked the justice minister to draft regulations to ban the burqa.

The All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU), the top body of Islamic scholars in Sri Lanka, said they supported a short-term ban on security grounds, but opposed any attempt to legislate against burqas.

"We have given guidance to the Muslim women to not to cover their faces in this emergency situation," ACJU assistant manager Farhan Faris said after the scholars asked the government to drop plans for a law against the burqa and niqab.

"If you make it a law, people will become emotional and this will bring another bad impact ... it is their religious right," he told Reuters.
About 9.7 percent of Sri Lanka's roughly 22 million people are Muslim. Only a small minority of women, usually in Muslim areas, fully hide their faces.

Human Rights Watch condemned the ban.

"That needless restriction means that Muslim women whose practice leads them to cover up now won't be able to leave home," the group's executive director Kenneth Roth tweeted.

In Kattankudy, the Muslim-majority hometown of Mohamed Hashim Mohamed Zahran, the suspected leader of the militant group behind the attacks, there few women in the streets and none had their faces covered.

Two women declined to be interviewed by Reuters. Residents said only a small percentage of women in the town wear the burqa.

Owais Ibrahim, a Muslim shopkeeper, said he supported a ban on face coverings for security reasons.

"If it is not allowed it is not a problem," he told Reuters. "If we are living in Sri Lanka, we must respect their rules." (Reuters)

The Sri Lankan government has announced that anyone found guilty of spreading false information could be imprisoned for up to three to five years.

It said a number of public disturbances have been reported in the country due to false information in the wake of the Easter Sunday bombings.

A ban on social media following the attacks will remain in place due to “misinformation shared,” president Maithripala Sirisena said Friday.
Mangala wants a CID inquiry over Piyal's statement

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera requested the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to take immediate legal action regarding a false statement made by parliamentarian Piyal Nishantha during a live TV programme.

UPFA MP (Pohottuwa faction) Nishantha stated that eleven soldiers were killed during the joint operation conducted by the Army/Police in Kalmunai on Friday night. 

Army spokesperson however confirmed that there were no casualties among the security forces who engaged in a fierce gun battle with a group of suspected ISIS terrorists.

"Piyal Nishantha's statement that 11 security personnel were killed during a shootout is a deliberate attempt to create panic among the people and to propagate a communal ideology", Samaraweera said adding that it was a grave crime to spread false statements to mislead the public under the present security situation in the country.

Questions are being raised about how much President Maithripala Sirisena knew about warnings provided by foreign intelligence agencies ahead of the Easter Sunday bombings that left at least 253 people dead and injured more than 450. 

State Intelligence Service (SIS) Director Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police Nilantha Jayawardena provided detailed reports to the President on at least three occasions, authoritative and multiple sources with close knowledge of the inner workings of the Defence establishment confirmed to Daily FT. 

One of those briefings took place ahead of the New Year holidays on 11 April, the sources confirmed. 

A second briefing by the SIS head took place about five days later the sources added. 

The Ministry of Defence was given an eleventh hour report that an attack was imminent on the evening of 20 April, Daily FT learns. The 20 April report was once again relayed by foreign intelligence agencies and specifically from India.

When the last minute reports came in SDIG Nilantha Jayawardena urged Defence Ministry officials to warn the police about what the intelligence reports were saying. Daily FT learns that these warnings were then transmitted to the IGP, even though seemingly there were no measures taken to prevent the bombings. The IGP also failed to alert churches about the threats, even though the report specifically mentioned that they were targets.

The foreign intelligence reported that Zahran Hashim and a few others were planning suicide attacks or knife attacks targeting churches and the Indian High Commission. 

The SIS head who is believed to be a close associate of President Sirisena reportedly placed a phone call to Singapore where the President was on holiday. SDIG Jayawardena reportedly warned President Sirisena just hours before last Sunday’s series of bomb explosions at three churches and five star hotels. 

According to a senior Defence Ministry official who did not wish to be named, intelligence chiefs and especially the SIS head usually brief the President as Commander-in-Chief and Minister of Defence before sending the reports to the administrators and other agencies at the Ministry. 

However, top Defense officials including the Tri-forces personnel never got directives from the President about how to go about facing the high level warnings from the intelligence agency, which was being repeatedly warned in turn by Indian intelligence.

President Sirisena has denied knowledge of the intelligence reports and claimed he only saw the warnings when they were posted on social media soon after the explosions. He has accused former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and IGP Pujith Jayasundera of failing to brief him about the threat. “They shirked their responsibilities,” the President said, calling for their resignations. Fernando has resigned but IGP Jayasundera is yet to do so in spite of the President’s orders. 

The MoD was first alerted to the foreign intelligence warning in writing on 8 April. The first meetings about the threats were held the next day. The same day the Ministry of Defence issued instructions to the Police Chief asking him to take necessary action on a priority basis. 

However, a senior official at the Ministry claimed nobody in the security establishment imagined Sunday’s attack would be as serious and brutal and co-ordinated as it was. The failure to act was on multiple levels, the official added.  

A Presidential board of inquiry is likely to interview several security sector officials about the lapses, the official said. The Daily FT learns that the IGP and the former Secretary of Defence Fernando have already given testimony before the board of inquiry.  

(Daily FT)

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for three men who blew themselves up in clashes with Sri Lankan police, the group said in a statement.

The men set off explosives after an hour-long gun battle with police Saturday, inside what was believed to be a jihadist hideout near the eastern town of Kalmunai, in the latest fallout from the Easter attacks. 

In a statement posted Saturday by Daesh (ISIS) propaganda unit, Amaq News Agency, it said three of its soldiers detonated their bombs after a fight with police.

The statement said the men "clashed with them (Sri Lankan police) with automatic weapons, and after exhausting their ammunition, detonated on them their explosive belts."

Fifteen people died in the clashes, police said, including three women and six children.

In this picture taken on April 26, 2019, security personnel display seized items after they raid what believed to be an Islamist safe house in the eastern town of Kalmunai (STRINGER / AFP)

The violence came six days after the Easter Day bombings on three churches and three luxury hotels which killed at least 253 people and injured 500.

Security forces armed with emergency powers have stepped up search operations for Islamic extremists since the bombings.

Kalmunai is in the same region as the home town of the terrorist Zahran Hashim who founded the group accused of staging the attacks.

While the ISIS has claimed the death of 17 "disbelievers" in the suicide attack, the Lankan authorities have confirmed that the total death toll is 15, including those from the minority community.

A week after the devastating terror attack, Sri Lanka continues to remain on the edge, with emergency imposed across the nation.

Mass across all churches were cancelled in the island nation today due to the threat posed by extremists. Similarly, restrictions were imposed on Friday congregational prayers for Muslims this week as authorities feared a retaliatory attack.

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya was sworn in as the new Chief Justice before President Maithripala Sirisena this morning, the President's Media Division (PMD) said in a release today.

The PMD also said that Solicitor General Dappula de Livera has been appointed as the acting Attorney General.

At the request of the Sri Lankan Government, U.S. experts are already working closely with their Sri Lankan partners on fulfilling short term, specific objectives related to the recent attacks and to bringing the perpetrators to justice, the US embassy in Colombo said in a statement. 

However, the U.S. cooperation to enhance safety in Sri Lanka does not indicate a larger, long term presence of US security teams in the country.

"The United States Government continues to assist Sri Lankan authorities in the aftermath of the horrific attacks that occurred in the country on Easter Sunday.  At the request of the Sri Lankan Government, U.S. experts are already working closely with their Sri Lankan partners on fulfilling short term, specific objectives related to the recent attacks and to bringing the perpetrators to justice. 

This cooperation does not indicate a larger, long term presence of US security teams in the country," the embassy said.

President Maithripala Sirisena has appointed Senior Deputy Inspector General C. D. Wickramaratne as the Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP), the President's Media Division said today.

They also stated that that former IGP N.K. Illangakoon has been appointed as an advisor to the Ministry of Defence.

Sri Lanka's Roman Catholic leader on Sunday condemned the Easter attacks as "an insult to humanity" as the country marked a week since suicide bombers hit three churches and three luxury hotels.

The Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, held a private mass shown live on television after cancelling all public services amid fears of a repeat of the attacks which left 253 dead.

But a heavily guarded vigil was held outside St Anthony's Shrine in Colombo at 8.45am, the moment the bomber struck the church last week, killing dozens of worshippers.

The archbishop began his mass with an appeal for peace and unity in the multi-ethnic South Asian which has been put on edge by the attacks which also left nearly 500 injured.

"What happened last Sunday is a great tragedy, an insult to humanity," the cardinal said, urging followers to show kindness to others as a sign of respect for all the victims.

"Today during this mass we are paying attention to last Sunday's tragedy and we try to understand it. We pray that those who lost their lives that day have eternal life through the Lord and those who were injured will be healed soon.

"In the same way, we pray that in this country there will be peace and co-existence and understanding each other without division," he said.

At the devastated St Anthony's Shrine, armed troops and police guarded the church as its bells rang out at the moment a suicide bomber blew himself up. The hands on the clock tower clock are stuck at 8.45.

Around 20 women holding candles outside the church pressed their palms together, many weeping silently while others sobbed and murmured prayers.

Sources from the the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India said one more person was taken into custody on Saturday in connection with Colombo blasts. 

The NIA said it took Faizal, a native of Kerala's Kollam, into custody on April 27 (Saturday) on suspicion of having direct contacts with Sohran Hashif, one of the conspirators behind the Colombo blasts.  

NIA sources also confirm that Sohran visited Kerala a couple of times. The three detained yesterday from Palakkad and Kasaragode by the NIA was based on the evidences gathered from Faizal.

Two of the three persons detained yesterday were identified as Ahmed Arafat and Abu Bakar Siddiqui. They were taken in for questioning after being detained by NIA Cochin unit. 

Sources told Times Now earlier that the trio were detained after receiving information that they were in touch with Sohran Hashif, suspected to be one of the conspirators behind the bomb blasts that shook the island nation. The two Kerala youths were reportedly influenced by Sohran’s readical ideology, sources said. 

The NIA proble also found out that three persons detained yesterday had links with ISIS. The NIA officials also recovered DVDs of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik from the suspects, sources said. 

The NIA said in a statement, "NIA today carried out searches at three places in Kerala in connection with 2016 ISIS Kasaragod Module case.

They are suspected to have links with some of accused in the said case who left India to join terrorist organisation ISIS".

At least 15 people died during a raid on a house in eastern Sri Lanka where suicide bombers blew themselves up and at least one man was killed in a gun battle with security forces.

The operation followed a tip off that extremists linked to the Easter suicide bombings were holed up in Kalmunai, a predominantly Muslim town around 215 km (135 miles) east of the capital Colombo.

Three men set off explosives that killed themselves, three women and six children inside the house on Friday night, police said on Saturday, April 27.

A police spokesman said that three suspected suicide bombers were among the 15 dead after the shootout.

One child caught in the crossfire was admitted to hospital.

Military spokesman Sumith Atapattu said in a statement that as troops headed towards the safe house three explosions were triggered and gunfire began.

"Troops retaliated and raided the safe house where a large cache of explosives had been stored," he said in a statement.

Soldiers stand guard in a neighbourhood after they raid what believed to be a safe house for a militant group in the eastern town of Kalmunai on Apr 27, 2019. (Photo: AFP)

He said the militants were suspected members of the National Towheed Jama'at (NTJ), which has been blamed for last Sunday's attacks.

Bomb-making materials, dozens of gelignite sticks and thousands of ball bearings were found in a search of a separate house in the same area along with Islamic State banners and uniforms, the military said.

The government has said nine homegrown, well-educated suicide bombers carried out the Easter Sunday attacks, eight of whom had been identified. One was a woman.

Police said on Friday they were trying to track down 140 people they believe have links with Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings.

Sri Lanka's president has also said some Sri Lankan youths had been involved with the Islamic State since 2013 and that there were drug trafficking links.

"Our efforts to eradicate the drugs menace from the country could have advanced the ISIS attack," Sirisena said.

Police have detained at least 76 people, including foreigners from Syria and Egypt, in their investigations so far. Twenty were arrested in the past 24 hours alone, they said.

Two suspects, wanted over the Easter Sunday bombings, were arrested on Sunday (28), in Nawalapitiya, the Police media spokesperson said.

The two men, identified as Mohammad Iwuhaim Saadiq Abdul Haq and Mohammad Iwuhaim Shahid Abdul Haq, will be handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

According to the Police media spokesperson, both Mohammad Iwuhaim Saadiq and Mohammad Iwuhaim Shahid were among the suspects released by the CID.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) of the US Government has approved a grant of USD 480 million to Sri Lanka at its board meeting held on the 25th of April 2019 in Washington D.C. subject to Congressional Notification.

On the request of the Hon. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the MCC has done an evaluation in terms of their investment criteria and selected Sri Lanka as a qualified country to receive grant funding under their Compact Investment Program.

Under this grant, Sri Lanka is getting a USD 480 million for 03 main projects to be completed within a period of 5 years i.e. a special Transport Development Program covering the Colombo Metropolitan area to reduce the traffic congestion by improving flow rate, reduce travel time, reduce traffic emission and reduce accidents combined with the Bus Transport Service Modernization program including private and public sector transport service.

Under transport development, improving 131 KM road network on the Central Ring Road connecting Sabaragamuwa, Uva, Eastern, North Central and Wayamba Provinces to the Colombo markets and export hubs. Further, improvement of Land Administration process also will be done in 08 districts, improving the land valuation system, upgrading 10 Land Registries and preparation of Parcel Fabric Map of all state and private land to facilitate the activities of the Survey Department.