Colombo, Feb 8: A senior Sri Lankan church official has asked President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to give him access to a presidential commission’s report on Easter Sunday bomb attacks in 2019 that killed more than 260 people, including churchgoers.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Colombo, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, has written to Rajapaksa to make the request, his spokesman, the Rev. Camillus Fernando, said Monday. The report by a commission comprising judges hasn’t been made public, but Rajapaksa said in his Independence Day speech last week that it has been referred to relevant officials for prosecution.
Inquiries to the president’s office on whether the report will be released were not immediately answered. Two local Muslim groups that pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group were blamed for the coordinated suicide bomb attacks on six locations on April 21, 2019.
The victims included worshippers in two Roman Catholic churches and a Protestant church participating in Easter Sunday services, and local residents and foreigners who were having breakfast at three leading hotels in the heart of Colombo. (AP)
