Sri Lanka on Friday announced that it had ended a four-month state of emergency that was declared after the Easter Sunday suicide bombings in April, reported Colombo Gazette. Islamist extremists killed 258 people in the attacks on three hotels and three churches.
President Maithripala Sirisena had been extending the emergency, which gives sweeping powers to the police and security forces to arrest and detain suspects for long periods, on the 22nd of each month, AP reported. According to the Sri Lankan Constitution, Emergency can be declared for a month at a time, and must be ratified by Parliament within 10 days.
“The president did not issue a fresh proclamation extending the emergency by a further period,” an unidentified official told the newspaper. The official government printer also confirmed that there was no notification regarding extending the emergency.
The Sri Lankan Police arrested more than 1,000 suspects following the attacks, which were carried out by two local Islamist groups that declared allegiance to the Islamic State group. Seven suicide bombers carried out the attacks. According to the police, all those responsible for the blasts have either been killed or arrested.
On July 9, the Sri Lankan magistrates’ court had granted bail to the country’s police chief and its former defence secretary in connection with the Easter attacks. They were the first two state officials to be arrested for allegedly failing to prevent the bombings, which took place despite repeated warnings from Indian intelligence agencies.
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