SIS chief contacted me hours before the attacks - fmr Defence Secretary

Former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando, testifying before the Special Parliament Select Committee looking into the attacks on Easter Sunday, said that the chief of the State Intelligence Service had contacted him on the day of the attacks with information on possible attacks.

The Special Parliament Select Committee appointed to look into the Easter attacks convened for the third time earlier yesterday (06) at the parliament premises.

Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara also testified before the committee yesterday.

The state intelligence chief had queried him on the number of Methodist churches in Colombo and said that it was not Catholic but Methodist churches that were being targeted, the former Defence Secretary testified.

Commenting further, he said the Ministry of Defence had received the information regarding possible attacks on April 8th. Later, on the same day, the former Defence Secretary had asked the intelligence chief what the security classification was and that he had responded it was a ‘top secret’. “So we decided to take it up for discussion during the Security Council meeting the next day,” he added.

However, during the Security Council meeting, the state intelligence chief had not spoken up about what was mentioned at the ministry, the former Defence Secretary further said.