Sri Lanka's Prime Minister missed foreign intelligence warnings of terror attacks due to feud with president

<p>Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe missed out on foreign intelligence warnings of imminent attacks due to an ongoing feud with Sri Lankan president Maithripala Sirisena.</p> <p>The news comes following a briefing by Health Minster Rajitha Senaratne, who said the premier had been kept out of intelligence briefings, and not been told of a report on April 11 that outlined foreign intelligence warnings of attacks on churches by a domestic militant group called the National Thawheed Jama’ut.</p> <p>Speaking at a press conference in Colombo, Senaratne said that a foreign intelligence agency passed information about “suicide bombings” as early as&nbsp;April the 4.th</p> <p>“In those detailed reports they said that the targets are the Christian and Catholic churches, and also tourist destinations, hotels,” he added.</p> <p>“On April 11 the police wrote to heads of security of the judiciary and diplomatic security division”, he further said.</p> <p>A document seen by Reuters showed that the police had also been warned earlier this month about possible attacks on churches.</p> <p>On Sunday, Sri Lanka’s Security Council refused to attend a meeting called by Sri Lanka’s prime minister Ranil Wickrememsinghe.</p> <p>Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that there appeared to have been prior warnings to the Easter Sunday bombings that had not been adequately looked into.</p> <p>Addressing the nation on Sunday evening, after the string of suicide bombings&nbsp;killed over 200 people across the island, Mr Wickremesinghe said,</p> <p>“We must look into why adequate precautions were not taken. Neither I nor the Ministers were kept informed. First and foremost we have to ensure that terrorism does not lift its head in Sri Lanka.”</p> <p>Sri Lanka’s Prime Minsiter Ranil Wickrememsinghe was temporarily sacked and replaced by Mahinda Rajapaksa during a feud with President Maithripala Sirisena last year. The disagreement saw Sri Lanka plunge into political crisis for several weeks.</p>