Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena has announced redundancies in the security services due to a lack of information policy before the attacks on Easter Sunday. The bosses are said to be particularly affected.

The police and other security forces are to be turned around within 24 hours, Sirisena said in a televised speech. From the government's point of view, previously available references to terrorist attacks were not passed on to the government. At least 359 people died in the attacks with several bomb explosions, the authorities said.

The terrorist militia "Islamic State" (IS) had claimed the suicide attacks on hotels and Christian churches in Sri Lanka for themselves (for an analysis of the backers and the connections to the IS read here). The IS-mouthpiece Amak previously reported in the social networks that the attackers were allegedly IS-fighters.

60 suspects in custody

According to Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, there were still some suspects on the run, some of them in possession of explosives. On Tuesday evening, there were more arrests. At least 60 people are now in custody, according to police - all Sri Lanker.

Foreign intelligence agencies had already informed on April 4 about possible suicide attacks on churches and tourist resorts in Sri Lanka - the information came from India, as Wickremesinghe announced. "We are responsible, we are very sorry," said Senaratne on behalf of the government.

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Stop with about 300 dead: So pointless

Several ministers had criticized Wickremesinghe for not being invited to meetings of the Security Council. The background is tensions between the co-ruling parties of Wickremesinghe and President Sirisena, who is under the defense of the security forces. Sirisena had unexpectedly dismissed and replaced Wickremesinghe at the end of last year. Wickremesinghe but won the power struggle and remained in office. By the end of this year is a presidential election in Sri Lanka.

New Zealand has no information about Christchurch connection

The Sri Lankan government said the attacks were in retaliation for the attack on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in March, Deputy Defense Minister Ruwan Wijewardene said.

However, a spokesman for New Zealand's prime minister Jacinda Ardern said the pacific state government was unaware of such intelligence. The arrest of a suspected lone gunman - a right-wing extremist from Australia - on two mosques on March 15 killed 50 people and injured dozens during Friday prayers.

Seven Sri Lankan suicide bombers had blown up on Easter Sunday almost simultaneously in three churches in several cities and three luxury hotels in the capital Colombo. Several hours later there were two more explosions in a small hotel and residential area in suburban Colombo.

The number of deaths was according to police from Wednesday at 359 - including 34 foreigners were according to Foreign Ministry, 14 were still missing. Even a German-American was killed, as the Foreign Office announced. According to Unicef ​​also 45 children were killed. More than 500 injured were treated according to the police still in hospitals.

On Tuesday, emergency regulations came into force, which give the security forces far-reaching powers, according to Sirisena's office. Such provisions were almost permanently in force during the civil war in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009 - and beyond that until 2011.