News
Sri Lanka’s new war on terror tarnished by blunders
25 Apr, 2019
By Easwaran Rutnam
Sri Lanka’s new war on terror has been tarnished by blunders over the past few days, the latest being the Easter Sunday attack death toll and an image of a woman made public by the Police claiming she was a suspect.
Today (Thursday) the Police released an image of a woman saying she was one of the suspects linked to the Easter Sunday attacks.
The Police sought information on the women and a few other suspects.
However, the actual women in the image was US-based activist Amara Majeed and not the suspect.
Majeed tweeted saying she had been falsely identified by the Sri Lankan Government as one of the ISIS terrorists who committed the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka.
The Police later issued an apology saying the wrong image had been used to identify one of the suspects.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health issued a media statement saying the death toll from the Easter Sunday attacks was not over 350 but around 250.
The Health Ministry contradicted the death toll figures issued by the Police and Ministry of Defence and Law and Order.
Director General of Health Services Dr. Anil Jayasinghe said that of 485 patients admitted to state hospitals following the deadly suicide attacks in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa on Sunday, only six had died in hospital as of today.
He also said that contrary to what was reported earlier, the actual death toll was approximately 253.
Earlier in the week, State Minister of Defence, Ruwan Wijewardena said that the suicide attacks in Sri Lanka on Sunday had been carried out in retaliation to the New Zealand attacks last month.
However New Zealand said that the claims had not been verified. (Colombo Gazette)
Recommended For You
