Highlights
- Retired Major-General Suresh Sallay has been arrested for conspiracy and aiding and abetting the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings.
- The coordinated attacks killed 279 people, injured more than 500 and also killed 45 foreign nationals.
- Sallay was promoted to State Intelligence Service chief after Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidency two days after the bombings.
The coordinated suicide bombings struck Easter congregations at three churches and guests at three luxury hotels during breakfast on 21 April 2019.
Six almost simultaneous blasts injured more than 500 people and killed 45 foreign nationals, dealing a severe blow to Sri Lanka's vital tourism sector. Sallay, who had been accused of involvement in the attacks, has consistently denied the charges.
Alleged political conspiracy
British broadcaster Channel 4 reported in 2023 that Sallay was linked to the bombers and had met them before the attack. A whistleblower told the network that he had permitted the attack to proceed with the intention of influencing that year's presidential election in favour of Gotabaya Rajapaksa.
Rajapaksa declared his candidacy just two days after the bombings and went on to win the November 2019 vote in a landslide after promising to stamp out violence.
Sallay was subsequently promoted to head the State Intelligence Service following Rajapaksa's victory but was dismissed after Anura Kumara Dissanayake won the presidency in 2024, having promised prosecutions of those responsible for the attack.
Justice still pending
Questions remain about wider accountability. Other investigations faulted authorities for failing to act on warnings from an Indian intelligence agency that an attack was imminent.
In 2023, Sri Lanka's Supreme Court ruled that former president Maithripala Sirisena and four other senior officials failed to avert the bombings, ordering Sirisena to personally pay 100 million rupees ($273,300) in compensation to victims' relatives.
Four other officials were jointly ordered to pay a further 210 million rupees ($574,000).
The United Nations has also called on Sri Lanka to publish parts of previous inquiries into the bombings that were withheld from the public.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (L) attends the oath taking ceremony of government's "sikyong" or leader Penpa Tsering (R), President of the Central Tibetan Administration at Namgyal Monastery in McLeod Ganj near Dharamsala on May 27, 2026. (Photo by Sanjay BAID / AFP via Getty Images)
