FILE -In this Friday, Nov. 2, 2018, file photo, ousted Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe listens during an interview with the Associated Press at his official residence in Colombo, Sri Lanka. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena, File)

Sri Lanka political rivalry seen as factor in Easter blasts

By The Associated Press April 26, 2019 at 2:42am

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Government dysfunction and an intelligence failure that preceded the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka are traced to simmering divisions between the president and prime minister.

The government has admitted to a “lapse of intelligence” after officials failed to act upon near-specific information received from foreign agencies.

The carnage that left 253 dead and more than 400 wounded in three churches and three hotels has brought forth arguments that worshippers and holidaymakers fell victim to the rivalry and a lack of communication between the country’s two leaders — President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The two men have been rivals since last October when President Sirisena fired Wickremesinghe and then was ordered by courts to reappoint him.

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