COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s public security minister told parliament on Wednesday the nation’s ex-intelligence chief had directed the 2019 Easter Sunday attack, carried out allegedly by “Muslim extremists”.

This is the first official statement linking Maj Gen Suresh Sallay directly to the bombings that killed 279 people.

Minister Ananda Wijepala said the former spy chief, who was arrested in February on accusations of “aiding and abetting” the attack, had identified a Catholic church to be bombed.

Sallay has denied any involvement.

Sri Lanka’s worst single terror attack against civilians involved bombings against three upmarket hotels in the capital, two Roman Catholic churches and an evangelical Protestant church outside Colombo.

Wijepala said Sallay was admitted to hospital after launching a hunger strike while being detained under an anti-terrorism law. Opposition activists have been demonstrating in the capital demanding his release from custody.

Following Sallay’s interrogation, investigators have secured court orders preventing former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa from leaving the island. Sallay was appointed head of Sri Lanka’s main spy agency in 2019, soon after Rajapaksa became president.

He also headed the military intelligence unit prior to taking over as spy chief.

A whistleblower told Britain’s Channel 4 network that he had permitted the attack to proceed with the intention of influencing that year’s presidential election in favour of Rajapaksa.

Two days after the bombings, Rajapaksa declared his candidacy and went on to win the November elections in a landslide after promising to stamp out religious extremism.

Police have stopped short of naming Rajapaksa as a suspect, but official sources said he was likely to be questioned shortly.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2026