Sri Lanka arrests ex-intel chief over 2019 Easter bombings

Sri Lanka’s Criminal Investigation Department on Wednesday (February 25, 2026) arrested former intelligence chief Major General Suresh Sallay in connection with the deadly Easter Sunday bombings of 2019 that killed around 270 people and injured several hundred, police said.

Speaking to The Hindu, a senior official confirmed that the arrest was made under Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), “based on adequate evidence”. The official described the arrest of the former head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) as “a major breakthrough” in the case, which has been ongoing for nearly seven years, even as victims’ families relentlessly demand justice.

It is the first high-profile arrest in the case since President Anura Kumara Dissanayake assumed office in 2024. Securing justice for victims of the bombings was among his key pre-poll pledges.  

On April 21, 2019, a network of nine suicide bombers—they were part of an Islamist radical group—carried out coordinated serial blasts targeting luxury hotels and churches in and around Colombo and the eastern city of Batticaloa on Easter Sunday. The incident shook the relative peace on the island, a decade after the end of a gruesome civil war. Official documents and cases filed show a discrepancy in the death toll, with figures quoted ranging from 259 to 296.

Also read: The inside story of the 9 suicide bombers behind Sri Lanka’s savage Easter attacks

Mr. Sallay was appointed head of the SIS in late 2019 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa won the presidential election in November that year, on a plank of national security. Mr. Sallay was the first military officer to be made chief of Sri Lanka’s main intelligence agency. His name came under sharp focus in 2023 after a documentary by British broadcaster Channel 4 linked him to the Islamist bombers, based on a whistleblower’s testimony. Mr. Sallay denied the allegations, and Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence then said it “categorically refutes” the “outrageous allegations”.  

Human rights activist Ruki Fernando, who has been advocating for victims’ families, said that if there was sufficient evidence, Mr. Sallay must be held criminally accountable following due process. “Those of us closely following proceedings have always felt that the ongoing case, the main one before the Special Trial-at-Bar [set up for extraordinary criminal proceedings], does not address all dimensions of the case. Suresh Sallay’s arrest shows us that the case apparently goes beyond the network of suicide bombers,” he told The Hindu. So far, the case includes over 23,000 charges and 25 accused.

The Special Trial-at-Bar has been hearing the sensitive case—the deadliest terror attack in Sri Lanka since the end of the war in 2009—five days a week under tight security. Last week, Mr. Fernando took to social media to express concern about being prohibited from witnessing the court proceedings, citing logistical and security reasons.

While some, including victims’ families, in Sri Lanka have expressed disappointment over the pace of the case, Mr. Fernando said: “It is very important that there’s no undue delay, but it is equally important that there is no haste. Only a fair trial and adherence to due process will ensure that the rights of the accused and the aggrieved parties are not compromised.”   

Further, underscoring his “principled opposition” to the PTA—a law rights defenders have described as “draconian” and sought to repeal—Mr. Fernando, who was himself arrested under the law in 2014, said: “The PTA does not allow for due process. That is precisely why many of us are opposed to the legislation, regardless of whether it is an activist or someone else arrested under the law.”