Colombo: Former Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena apologized to the country’s minority Catholic community for the devastating 2019 Easter Sunday bombings that killed over 270 people, including 11 Indians, saying that the carnage took place without his knowledge.
Nine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) linked to ISIS carried out a series of blasts that tore through three Catholic churches and as many luxury hotels on April 21, 2019, killing more than 270 people and injuring over 500.
“I say sorry to the Catholic community for something done by others,” Sirisena said while addressing the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) press briefing here.
Sirisena’s apology came after Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on January 12 ordered him to pay SLR 100 million as compensation to the victims.
His failure to pay the victims would send him to jail on contempt of court charges.
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