Government officials say Sri Lankan authorities were warned about a terrorist plot two weeks before a series of Easter Sunday blasts that killed at least 290 people.
Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.Bill Neely, Linda Givetash and Shammas Ghousea series of Easter Sunday blasts that killed at least 290 peopleRajitha Senaratne, the country's health minister and a spokesman for its Cabinet, said international intelligence agencies had informed Sri Lankan counterparts on April 4 that churches and tourist destinations were being targeted.
A wave of near-simultaneous explosions hit three churches and three luxury hotels on Sunday, officials said. Police later reported two further explosions.Hemasiri Fernando, the chief of staff to Sri Lankan's president, also told NBC News that the country's security agencies had been alerted in advance.Senaratne blamed National Thowheed Jamath, a local Islamist group, for the attacks.
Blasts occurred at St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo, St. Sebastian's Church in Negombo, a Catholic majority town north of Colombo, and a church in the eastern town of Batticaloa. The hotels targeted included the Shangri-La Colombo, Kingsbury Hotel and Cinnamon Grand Colombo — all popular with foreign tourists.Bill Neely is NBC News chief global correspondent. He joined NBC News from Britain’s ITV News in January 2014. Neely was ITV News international editor for 11 years. Over the course of 30 years in journalism, he has covered more than a dozen wars and conflicts from Northern Ireland to Syria, and has been embedded regularly with U.S.
His reports from across the globe have earned many prestigious awards, including numerous Royal Television Society awards, an Emmy for coverage of the 2008 earthquake in China, and an unprecedented three consecutive BAFTA awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, for his work in China, Haiti, and the U.K.Linda Givetash is a reporter based in London. She previously worked for The Canadian Press in Vancouver and Nation Media in Uganda.
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