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The Criminal Investigating Department (CID) is taking necessary measures to freeze the assets of the terrorists who were involved in the Easter Sunday attacks, Police spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunesekera said.

He further said that the Police is compiling a list of assets belonging to these terrorists in line with the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Finance Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. 

Police yesterday released the identities of the nine suicide bombers involved in the attacks. 

Shangri-La Hotel bpmbers were identified as Mohamed Cassim Mohamed Zahran, a resident of Mohideen Church Road in Kattankudy and Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Ilham Ahmed, a resident of Mahawila Gardens, Baseline Road in Dematagoda.

The Kingsbury Hotel attacker was named as Mohamad Assam Mohammad Mubarak, a resident of Colombo 12. 

Mohamed Ibrahim Mohamed Insaf Ahmed, who was a resident of Mahawila Gardens, Baseline Road Dematagoda, blew himself up at the Cinnamon Grand in Colombo.

Terrorist involved in the St. Sebastian's Church bombing in Katuwapitiya, Negombo was identified as Atchchi Muhammadu Muhammadu Hasthun, a resident of Walachchenei.

The suicide bomber who carried out the attack on the St. Anthony's Church in Kochchikade, Kotahena had been identified as Alawdeen Ahmed Muath, a resident of Central Road in Mattakkulya. 

The Zion Church bomber was named as Mohammad Nazar Mohammad Azad, a resident of Kattankudy.

Retired Major General Kapila Hendawitharana, a former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI) who had been dismissed by Army Commander Sarath Fonseka as an unqualified “logistics man” was promoted to Major General by Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2006, and brought back to the high post of Chief of National Intelligence, and given very broad oversight powers over all of Sri Lanka’s intelligence and counter-terrorism agencies, the Colombo Telegraph report.

Hendawitharana and the Secretary to the Ministry of Defence are suspects in the several white van abductions of journalists, the disappearance of Prageeth Eknaligoda and the murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge, all of what were done by the Military Intelligence under their command, according to the CID.

After being removed from office in January 2015, Hendawitharana was immediately given employment as head of security for the Shangri-La Hotels in Sri Lanka, where he works to this day for a high salary. This was after Rajapaksa and his defence ministry were implicated in the land deal for the Shangri-La. 

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Dubai court is set to announce the verdict with regard to the deportation of drug kingpin Makandure Madush.

Counsels appearing on behalf of Madush filed a petition requesting the court to stop his reptariation to Sri Lanka as he was under death threats.

Dubai Police raided a party organised by Madush where thirty one individuals including notorious drug runner Kanjipani Imran, popular singer Amal Perera and his son Nadeemal Perera were arrested on February 05th.

UAE has deported thrity individuals already with the exception of Makandure Madush.

Minister of Finance Mangala Samaraweera will lead the Sri Lankan Delegation to the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank to be held in Nadi, Fiji from 2nd to 5th May 2019.

The Annual Meeting of the ADB Board of Governors provide opportunities for member governments to interact with ADB staff, nongovernment organizations (NGOs), and representatives of observer countries, international organizations, and the private sector. ADB’s annual meetings have become a premier forum for the discussion of economic and social development issues in Asia and the Pacific. 

Delegates from 67 member countries will attend this meeting and the Sri Lankan delegates include Secretary to Treasury Dr. R.H.S. Samaratunga, Deputy Secretary to Treasury A.M.P.M.B. Atapattu, Director General of the External Resources Department Priyantha Rathnayake, Director General of the National Planning Department S.S. Mudalige and other senior officials from the Ministry of Finance.

ADB provides concessionary project loans to Sri Lanka annually amounting to approximately US dollar 800 million and there are already eight funding proposals in the pipeline  to the tune of USD dollars 815 million for the year 2019. Of which the Port access elevated highway with USD 300 million funding is ongoing now. The negotiations for the Railway efficiency improvement project loan of USD 160 million will be held in Colombo in May. This project is aimed at improving the railway signaling system and the age-old ticketing system.

On the sideline of the ADB annual meeting, arrangements have also been made to conduct the SAARC conference of Ministers of Finance on May 02, at Nadi in Fiji .

The whole world is at risk and should be vigilant with having all security precautions amid global expansion of the ISIS, following the threat imposed by its leader Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi yesterday (30), Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed publicly last evening.

The Prime Minister made these comments in a special statement issued last evening. 

“Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi said his organization is ready to attack any city in the world at any moment. This is a threat to the entire world.

Therefore, all countries in the world should see that their defence forces are on alert,” he said.

Mr. Wickremesinghe added that investigations on the statement made by the ISIS leader will be carried out. Abū Bakr al-Baghdadi claimed that the attacks in Sri Lanka were in retaliation to the capture of the land which was previously held by them. The last portion of land held by the ISIS was taken over by US-led Kurdhish fighters recently. 

“This is why I concentrated on ensuring people’s security rather than spending time debating with others on the Easter Sunday attacks,” the Prime Minister said.

He further said that many arrests have been made in connection to the attacks and arms are being recovered thanks to the ability of defence units and intelligence units. 

“We will arrest the rest who were involved in bomb attacks,” he assured in his statement.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also assured the security of the people during Vesak seasons, saying, "Focus should be made on those who are trying to get political mileage out of the present situation and also on the media which is helping them. The intention of these forces is to create an inter religious clash before the Vesak festival. One wonders as to what religion media people are following."

He added that Buddhist Monks will also play a role in assuring the safety of the people during the seasons. 

This is a time where all political parties shall come forward unbiased and sparing differences as one, and every citizen of the country should support the defence units to ensure the safety of this country, he remarked.

Despite the appointment of a committee headed by Supreme Court Justice Vijith Malalgoda by President Maithripala Sirisena to probe the Easter Sunday attacks that killed over 250 persons including foreigners, the President has already announced the ‘guilty’ parties responsible for the failure in disseminating the prior intelligence received on the attacks.

The President’s announcement has come even before the committee has concluded and handed in its final report.

The Malalgoda committee was appointed soon after the Easter Sunday attacks by the President seeking an explanation on the failure of Sri Lankan authorities to act on the prior intelligence received on the Easter Sunday attacks.

Nevertheless, the President has now made public statements on those whom he claim were responsible for the breakdown in national security and intelligence.

The President has laid the blame squarely on former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujith Jayasundera.
During a meeting with officials of the Defence Ministry held this morning, President Sirisena has made a stern statement that Fernando and Jayasundera were solely responsible for the breakdown in national security and the failure to act on intelligence that resulted in the Easter Sunday attacks.

The President has further vowed stern action against Fernando and Jayasundera for the failure to act on their duties.

Meanwhile, UNF MP Wijedasa Rajapaksha has filed several police complaints seeking Fernando’s and Jayasundera’s arrest for their failure to carry out their duties.

The government in is possession of information that corroborates Gotabaya Rajapaksa's involvement with organisations such the National Thowheeth Jama'ath (NTJ) and Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), Health Minister Dr Rajitha Senaratne said at a press briefing held yesterday.
 
Senaratne added that the latest information they received was about the murder in Batticaloa where two police constables were killed while on duty. He noted that it was four Army officers who directed the operation with the use of intelligence information and it has been revealed that they are linked to Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
 
The Minister said 26 officers were paid by the intelligence and salaries were also paid to NTJ members. The Minister noted that the suicide bomber Abdul Razeek was the secretary of the organisation and that he was paid as an officer of army intelligence.
 
 “This is the Thowheeth Jama'ath organisation and this was the picture the organisation has taken with the former president. The one on top is our very own patriot Udaya Gammanpila. 

There are photographs with Wimal Weerawansa too. So these are the extremists with them. A minister at the time, Hizbullah and Dullas Alahapperuma signed an agreement to build a sharia university in Batticaloa. But now they say that the university should be closed. But who signed it? They signed it," Senaratne said.

The United States (US) has reportedly stated that it believes members of the militant group blamed for Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday attacks may be at large and planning more assaults.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina B. Teplitz has made this observation to Reuters on Tuesday.

“We do believe that the terrorist threat is ongoing and there may be active plotters. Active members of the attack group that carried out the terror attacks on Easter Sunday may still be at large,” Ambassador Teplitz has said.

“We certainly have reason to believe that the active attack group has not been fully rendered inactive. We do believe that there is active planning underway,” the Ambassador has added.

With establishment of the Overall Operations Command (OOC) on Monday (29) evening, security operations, being conducted by all Army, Navy, Air Force troops and Police areas within the Western Province and Puttalam District came under the OOC for operational purposes, as additional troops with sister services and the Police in the past 24 hours intensified their emergency search and clear operations under the command of the OOC, commanded by Major General Sathyapriya Liyanage, Overall Operational Commander who is also the Commander Security Forces - West, Army Media Unit said.
 
Rear Admiral W.A.S.S Perera of the Navy, Air Vice Marshal W.L.R.P Rodrigo of the Air Force and Superintendent of Police L.K.D Anil Priyantha function as Coordinating Officers of Navy, Air Force and the Police in the OOC respectively with the OOC coming under the purview of the Chief of Defence Staff.
 
In the past 24 hours, those troops and Policemen enforced road blocks, mobile patrols and conducted search operations in the general areas of Colombo, Matara, Dickwella, Bandarawela and several other areas.
 
Meanwhile, as violence-hit part of the eastern region has returned to near normalcy and the general public reinforcing their full confidence in the Army, Major General Aruna Jayasekara Tuesday (30) visited several major areas in the East and supervised the status quo.
 
In Batticaloa, Thannamunai, security provided by the Army enabled St Joseph’s Church to go ahead with its annual feast and divine Pooja as planned with hundreds of devotees attending it. More than 800 devotees and 125 Catholic priests were present at this feast. Bishop of Batticaloa Rt Rev Joseph Ponniah and Bishop of Trincomalee Diocese had brief exchange of views with the visiting Major General Jayasekara and commended the Army for its ongoing security arrangements as well as the security provided to the Church feast amid existing threats.

Similarly, Army troops prioritized the provision of security to the South Eastern University in Oluvil, Ampara, the main seat of learning in the East. Likewise, Major General Jayasekara in the past 24 hours had separate meetings with Buddhist, Catholic and Islamic religious dignitaries in Batticaloa, Ampara, Polonnaruwa and Trincomalee and discussed measures that could be applied to maintain law and order and apprehend suspicious violent elements in specific areas.

In addition, Security Forces strengthened their searches in Kalmunai, Nintavur, Saindamaradu, Samanthurai, Kaththankudy, Nappatthumunai, Potuvil, Batticaloa and Ampara areas and handed over several suspects to the Police in respective areas, including 1 suspect with ISIS literature, swords and knives. 

"At the time this report was posted, Security Forces are still continuing their operations in the Eastern region," the Army Media Unit said.

The leader of the Islamic State (IS) group, Abu Bakr al-Babhdadi has come out making a public declaration that the IS group would seek revenge for its loss of territory as well as claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka that killed over 250 plus civilians including foreigners.

Baghdadi has made this statement through a video recording, which is also his first public appearance in five years. He was seen since 2014, when he proclaimed from Mosul the creation of a “caliphate” across parts of Syria and Iraq.

In this new footage, Baghdadi has acknowledged the defeat at Baghuz, the group’s last stronghold in the region. Baghdadi has said that the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka were carried out as revenge for the fall of the Syrian town of Baghuz.

Looking at Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday attacks that were primarily targeted at Catholic churches and five star city hotels, a recent analysis notes that IS targets churches because of the belief that the concept of the holy trinity goes against the concept of one God. 

As for the reason to target hotels, it is believed that the reason would be the decree issued by IS to target nationals of countries that belong to the coalition states, and hotels and popular restaurants are considered as places where nationals of coalition states would become victims. 

However, the BBC has stated that it is not clear when Baghdadi’s video was recorded. IS has reportedly said it was shot in April.

The footage was posted on the militant group's al-Furqan media network.

A US State Department spokesman has been quoted as saying by BBC that the tapes would be inspected by analysts to ascertain their authenticity, adding that the US-led coalition remains committed to ensuring any IS “leaders who remain are delivered the justice that they deserve.”

In the past two years, although ISIS has lost territory the size of Britain inside Syria and Iraq, it still has 08 official branches and more than 02 dozen networks regularly conducting terrorist and insurgent operations across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, according to the US National Strategy for Counter-terrorism.

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) called on all stakeholders including the public to focus attention on resolving systemic deficiencies which allowed for the Easter Sunday attacks to be carried out.

TISL Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere said, “the revelation that certain tiers of the country’s security apparatus were aware of intelligence reports regarding an impending attack, raise many questions regarding the information sharing protocols of state agencies and the manner in which such information is acted on by the political leadership”.

It has been TISL’s long standing position that there is a need for greater information sharing across all state agencies. Obeyesekere added, “the current culture of secrecy which has been reinforced by legislative provisions and the establishment code, continues to foster an environment where public institutions are operating within their own silos, with limited common purpose. Through experience we have seen this resulting in examples of two competing agencies investigating the same issues, with a reluctance to share information, thereby clearly working against the public interest”.

TISL also highlighted the role that corruption can play in eroding national security, particularly on issues of procurement. On several occasions in the past, Sri Lanka’s national security has been exposed as a result of allegedly fraudulent procurement and tender practices in addition to allegations of serious conflicts of interest.

“The recent lapses in information sharing, illustrate the devastating consequences of a closed state. Striving for a more open state, which communicates internally and with a shared purpose is essential. This requires reforming civil service procedures to bring them in line with 21st century practices. If lessons are to be learnt from these tragic events, the political and bureaucratic leadership must drive these much needed reforms,” Obeyesekere said.

Parliamentarian Ashu Marasinghe said that Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Arjuna Ranatunga had offered to relinquish his Cabinet portfolio to facilitate the entry of Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka as the Minister of Law and Order.

Marasinghe claimed that Ranatunga made this offer at the government's group meeting.

According to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, the Cabinet can only comprise of 30 members and as such, Fonseka can be appointed as a Cabinet Minister only if a another Cabinet Minister would resign.  

A group of UNP MPs also requested President Maithripala Sirisena in writing to appoint the Field Marshal as the Law and Order Minister yesterday.