Activist Oshala Herath on Sunday released what he said were screenshots of WhatsApp messages between the Director of Sri Lanka’s State Intelligence Service (SIS) and the Defence Ministry Secretary warning of a planned attack ahead of April 21, 2019, the day suicide bombers struck three churches and three luxury hotels.
According to the messages, intelligence received from a foreign counterpart pointed to plans by Zahran Hashim and associates to mount an attack, and referenced a suspected dry run involving an explosives-laden motorcycle in the East. The communication said the strike was likely “at any time on or before 21.4.2019,” with churches and hotels among the potential targets.
Newswire reported that the timeline of warnings, previously presented to a Parliamentary Select Committee, indicates intelligence services received the first information on April 4, 2019 via WhatsApp, followed by similar written information on April 5. The threat was first conveyed to then National Intelligence Chief Sisira Mendis on April 7 and to Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando on April 8, who advised that the police be informed. An intelligence coordination meeting on April 9 reportedly failed to give the warnings sufficient attention.
The screenshots’ authenticity has not been officially confirmed.
The disclosure follows former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando’s testimony at the Permanent Trial-at-Bar on April 30, where he alleged under oath that then-President Maithripala Sirisena had prior knowledge of the impending attack and that then-SIS chief Nilantha Jayawardena had withheld intelligence from the wider national security apparatus. The 270 deaths and more than 500 injuries from the bombings remain the subject of a parallel CIABOC probe of Sirisena, the permanent Trial-at-Bar of Ekneligoda-era abductions opened May 3, and a witness-intimidation inquiry by the CID.
