Sri Lanka has arrested former intelligence chief Suresh Sallay in Colombo in connection with the 2019 Easter bombings that killed 279 people and wounded more than 500, marking a significant development in long-running investigations into the deadly attacks.
Police said retired Major-General Suresh Sallay was taken into custody at dawn on Wednesday in a suburb of the capital, Colombo. An investigating officer confirmed he was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy and aiding and abetting the Easter Sunday bombings.
The 2019 Easter bombings targeted three churches and three luxury hotels across Sri Lanka, including in Colombo, in coordinated suicide attacks that killed 45 foreign nationals and severely damaged the country’s tourism-dependent economy. Authorities initially blamed a local Islamist extremist group for carrying out the attacks.
Suresh Sallay was appointed head of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) in 2019 after Gotabaya Rajapaksa assumed the presidency. He has previously denied allegations linking him to the bombings. In 2023, British broadcaster Channel 4 aired claims suggesting possible prior contact between intelligence figures and individuals involved in the attacks. Those allegations have been contested.
The arrest comes under the administration of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who took office in 2024 pledging renewed accountability and legal action related to the Easter attacks. Sallay was removed from his intelligence post following the change in government.
Separate investigations into the Easter bombings criticised security authorities for failing to act on advance warnings reportedly shared by an Indian intelligence agency. In a related civil case, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court ordered former president Maithripala Sirisena and four senior officials to pay more than $1.03 million in compensation for failing to prevent the attacks.
The United Nations has also urged Sri Lanka to release previously withheld findings from earlier inquiry commissions to ensure transparency and accountability.
The arrest of a former intelligence chief signals a potential shift in the legal and political landscape surrounding one of the country’s most devastating security crises, with implications for governance reform, institutional oversight and public confidence.
