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Sri Lanka’s defence secretary quits following suicide bomb attacks

News, World | | | By Reuters Reuters

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A view of the damage at St. Sebastian Catholic Church, after bomb blasts ripped through churches and luxury hotels on Easter, in Negombo, Sri Lanka April 22, 2019. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando told Reuters on Thursday that he had resigned, taking responsibility for the suicide bomber attacks on the country last Sunday.

He said that while there had been no failure on his own part, he was taking responsibility for failures of some institutions he headed as the secretary of defence.

He said that security agencies were actively responding to intelligence they had about the possibility of attacks before they were launched.

“We were working on that. All those agencies were working on that,” he said.

The Easter Sunday bombings on churches and luxury hotels killed at least 359 people and wounded about 500.

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