India’s April 4 advisory to Sri Lanka on Easter bombings was extremely specific

New Delhi, Apr 23: It is now clear that Sri Lanka failed to act on several warnings about a massive strike, including an extremely specific one given by India.

Officials in the intelligence agencies tell OneIndia that for several months now, India has been monitoring closely the activities of the Islamic State, al-Qaeda and also the National Thowheeth Jamaath, which is suspected to be behind the Colombo bombings. The official said that the activities of these terror groups were not just being monitored in India, but in the entire South Asia region.

On April 4, India informed Sri Lanka that NJT leader Mohammad Zaharan along with his associates was planning a major strike on Catholic churches and even on the Indian embassy. In addition to this the Indian officials also provided the Sri Lankans with his phone numbers, addresses among other details.

After piecing together the information, Sri Lanka issued a memo dated April 11, which spoke specifically about the threat. The advisory spoke about Zaharan's brother, who is a recruiter of the NJT. Further it spoke about the time he visited his wife and children.

The advisory also said clearly that Churches would be attacked. The advisory was sent out on April 11 by the police in which it warns that 11 Churches would be attacked on Easter Sunday.

The guard of the Sri Lankan police was however down owing to a shut down since April 12 dye the Sinhala Tamil New Year.

An Intelligence Bureau official in India tells OneIndia that the target was clearly the Catholics. The Christians who form 6 per cent of the country's population were out in large numbers due to Easter. Moreover the attack comes 10 days after a warning was issued about Churches being attacked in the country.