On Easter, 21st April, in Sri Lanka a series of suicide bombers bombed churches and luxury hotels.
250 people lost their lives
and more than 500 were injured.
3 of the people who lost their lives were India.
Suicide bombers walked easily into three churches and three upscale hotels in Colombo,
without facing any security checks.
In a series of raids just hours after the attacks, the police arrested 24 suspects.
At a private bus station in Petta,
87 bomb detonators were found.
In the streets of Colombo, another bomb was found.
The police tried to defuse the bomb, but it exploded.
Nobody was injured.
Government officials had known
about the warnings of an attack on churches and tourist destinations.
After the multiple blasts,
the Sri Lankan government admitted to missing the multiple warning signs.
A government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said that,
on 4th April, US and Indian foreign intelligence agencies,
had warned Sri Lanka about the attacks on churches and tourist spots.
Five days later, on 9th April,
the country's Defense Ministry
had informed the Inspector General of Police about this.
He even named the National Thawahid Jaman (NTJ), which is a Jihadi group.
He said that they may be responsible for the attacks.
He also prepared a detailed list of all the names of the suspects.
On April 11, the Deputy Inspector General of Police,
sent a memo regarding information of the attacks and the list of suspects.
As Easter drew close, foreign security services
repeated their warnings. They told Sri Lanka that something terrible was going to happen.
One warning came 10 minutes before the attack.
The bomb exploded anyway.
The problem is that,
the Sri Lankan government is deeply divided.
This divide is due to political conflicts.
President Maithripala Sirisena
an Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe have a political tiff.
The Prime Minister was removed from the national security council in December.
He was never informed about the warnings either.
After the attacks,
the PM held a meeting for the members of the National Security Council.
The members refused to attend.
The Sri Lankan goverment declared a state of emergency,
at midnight on Monday, 22nd April.
A state of emergency means,
police and the military have powers
to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders.
A curfew also came into effect at 8:00 pm,
nobody was allowed on the streets.
The security forces were seen patrolling the streets.
The Sri Lankan government blocked
all forms of Social Media after the blasts.