Sri Lankan president says to change heads of defense forces following deadly attacks

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena said on Tuesday that he expects to change the heads of the defense forces within the next 24 hours following their failure to take adequate measures to prevent Sunday's deadly terror attacks.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena (2nd R) visits the St. Sebastian Church after the multiple terror attacks in Negombo, Sri Lanka on April 23 , 2019. [Photo: Anadolu Agency via IC]

In a special address to the nation which was shown on television, Sirisena said he will also completely restructure the police and security forces in the coming weeks and admitted that there had been lapses on the part of the defense authorities.

He said although there had been prior intelligence reports about these attacks, he was not informed about them.

"The security officials who got the intelligence report from a foreign nation did not share it with me. Appropriate actions would have been taken. I have decided to take stern action against these officials," he said.

The president said that they had already received international assistance to conduct a thorough probe into the attacks and assured that all steps would be taken to curb terrorism in Sri Lanka.

He offered his condolences to the victims and called for unity to prevail in the island country.