Following an explosion that rocked Sri Lanka during the Easter period, killing 258 people, including 45 foreigners, and wounded nearly 500, the country's president has sacked the national intelligence chief. His sack came under allegations that he refused to cooperate with a parliamentary investigation into security lapses before the Easter suicide bombings.
Chief of National Intelligence, Sisira Mendis was sacked after testifying to the inquiry last week that the attacks could have been averted. He also said President Maithripala Sirisena had failed to hold regular security meetings to assess the threat from Islamic radicals who carried out the bombings on three hotels and three churches.
Sirisena's office did not give a reason for the sacking. Although it was gathered that halfway through the testimony of Mendis, the live telecast of the proceedings was stopped on the president's orders, official sources said.
